Live By the Sword
by Darien Fawkes
Summary: Noah has worked hard to improve his swordsmanship, but as the Rangers search for more Ranger Keys and encounter new threats, he's going to learn a valuable lesson in what happens when you live by the sword. Will some guidance from a past Ranger help?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Usual warning, my storyline is VERY A/U by now, so I'd strongly recommend reading "Nowhere to Go, Noone to Help, Nothing to Lose" "Flight of the Privateer" and "Prince Vekar Joins the War" otherwise you may get lost.

**Legal: **I do not own Power Rangers or the associated names, places, events etc. Anything not covered by the above rights should be considered purely the creation of the author.

**Rating: **T-There will be mild adult themes and language.

As the Red Galleon soared through the sky, heading to the Rangers' next destination, they took the time to get some training in, while Tensou worked on the scanners, looking for some sign of unusual energy signatures. Even Jordan had appeared in his projection form to watch the Rangers train.

Noah was standing on the main deck, his sword in his hand, facing off against Emma. She twirled her sword as she walked around him, getting ready to begin.

"Are you sure you don't want to switch it up?" Emma asked him. "I mean, now we have our old powers' Ranger Keys, you do have access to the Shark Bowgun again."

"Yeah, I don't need to hide behind that thing anymore." Noah said confidently, resting his sword across his shoulders. "Hiding behind long-range firepower is SO last season!"

Although all of the Rangers had changed on their journey, none of them had changed more than Noah. Back when he was still in Harwood, he had trained, of course, but since their weaponry had been changed up, forcing them into a more short-ranged form of combat, he had spent a lot of the time he would have spent on his science experiments training to get stronger for the team. As Emma just shrugged and lunged towards him, beginning the bout, Noah spun out of the way, deflecting her blade with his own, and smiling as he took up a guard.

"Noah looks pretty good." Jordan commented, watching the sparring bout as it went on.

"He's really taking all this sword stuff seriously." Jake commented. "I swear, any time he's not eating or checking out the database, I find him practicing. That guy is seriously a MACHINE!"

Noah and Emma locked blades on the middle of the deck as the others watched on. Emma strained for position, but found that as Noah leaned into her, she couldn't really out-muscle him. He just smirked at her as he started to force her blade back towards her. Jake wasn't kidding about Noah's new training regimen, the last three months of obsessive workouts had an impressive effect on his physique. Whereas before he had a healthy, but skinny physique, he now had an impressively toned look to him now, one borne of a strictly structured workout plan he had created for himself from endless database searches to create as close to his idea of a perfect blend of strength, speed and flexibility as he could attain. He had been careful not to just work out on his strength and end up gaining a lot of weight that would slow him down.

As she struggled, Emma could see his shoulders, arms and chest straining against his t-shirt, and couldn't help thinking how different it was from only a few months previously. She wasn't especially huge, but as a result of her years of riding BMX, that she was pretty toned herself, and Noah would not have minded in the slightest anyone pointing out that physically he was the weakest member of the team. As he strained against her, she felt her grip faltering and realised that was no longer the case.

She quickly threw herself aside, rolling back to her feet, and looked back to Noah as he levelled his blade her way.

"Noah, stop going easy on her." Troy called over. Emma just looked to Troy, and then back to Noah. "We're here to train, not play."

Emma went for Noah again, their swords clashing in the air between them. However, after a moment, he hooked her blade, turned it under his own arm, and locked it in place, before ripping it from her grip. Spinning back around, he caught her sword, holding it towards the deck, while his other was pointed straight at her heart. Emma just held up her hands.

"You...you were going easy on me?" Emma asked him. Noah just tirled her sword around, and approached, handing it back to her.

"I know you're still cut up about your dad." Noah explained.

"That's real gentlemanly and all that kind of thing, but we'll never improve if we hold back on each other." Troy assured Noah as Emma came over, and he put his arm around her. "Jake, and..."

"I'm good." Noah stated, hefting his sword up. "I can go a little while longer."

"Alright, if you're sure." Troy sighed. "Jake, step on up."

Jake headed towards Noah, carrying his sword and his pistol, which he had set to a minimal power setting that Jordan had created purely for training purposes. He knew that it wouldn't harm anyone seriously. Noah left his pistol resting on a table as he headed back out onto the floor.

"Aren't you bringing your pistol?" Jake asked him. Noah just smiled and shook his head.

"I don't need it." He replied.

"Your loss!" Jake rushed out as he began. He fired off his first couple of shots, which Noah managed to avoid by throwing himself out to the side. He moved across the distance alarmingly quickly, getting to Jake and knocking the pistol from his hand, before slamming the hilt of his sword into his gut, staggering his friend.

"How did you...?"

"Reaction speed across the first sixteen feet is pretty significant." Noah told him. "A skilled swordsman should beat someone armed with a gun in that distance."

He went for Jake, their blades ringing out as they fought. Jake was still a fair bit bigger than Noah, and grabbed him, trying to muscle him into position, but before he knew what was happening, Noah had flipped him to the ground, and was pinning him there with his arm twisted painfully, and his foot resting on the back of Jake's head. Jake just fell silent as he felt the point of the sword pressing against the back of his neck.

"Not bad for the scrawny nerd that couldn't lift your Snake Axe huh?" Noah asked as he helped Jake up.

"How did you...?"

"Technique is everything." Noah told him, slapping him on the shoulder as Jake left to take a seat.

"Well, now the macho portion of this demonstration is over, how about you try that against me?" Gia asked, picking up two swords as she stepped up. "I think you'll find I'm a lot tougher than Mr Brainfreeze there."

"Hey!" Jake protested.

"I don't know, I think I have a pretty good idea of your moves." Noah told her as Troy offered him a second sword. Noah just refused it politely with a hand. "In fact...I bet I'll beat your two blades with only one!"

"Loser has to get the next clue from Tensou and wear the suit for two hours?" Gia asked, getting inspiration as she saw Tensou flying up onto the deck to join them. Noah just smiled.

"Sure, why not?" He asked her, gesturing her forward. "Let's see what you have!"

As Gia went for him, things slowed down for Noah. One of the many gifts he had was his analytical nature. He had found that he could apply his scientific and mathematical knowledge to his fighting style. The theory behind combat was basically applied physics, with elements of biology and mathematics. As he saw her move towards him, he could quickly ascertain her movements, and anticipate where the blades would come for him. The first swing was a feint, designed to put him off-balance, and get him to concentrate there, keeping his own sword busy for the return with the other hand to score the point. However, he already knew exactly how far back he had to step for her to miss, while still keeping his balance, and in position to parry the return strike.

He parried her, before shoving her past him, turning to face her as she steadied herself on her feet.

"Not bad Noah." She said, looking to him as she prepared for the next attack. "Was that what you were showing Quinn while Jake was running around town dressed like a giant snow cone?"

"Can we not focus on that?" Jake asked. Noah smiled in response.

"I could tell you what I was showing her." He responded. "But a gentleman never tells."

"Ew!" Emma complained. "Thanks for the mental image Noah!"

"So, while I was being chased through town by gangsters you were hooking up?" Jake asked, looking to Noah incredulously. He just shuddered. "OK, I'm with you Emma."

Gia also got that mental image, and is stirred something in her, anger. It was only a short time since her girlfriend Cat had called an end to their relationship, telling her that she had found someone else. It wasn't easy for Gia to let go, and she had held it together for the sake of the team, but to hear that while they were checking on their loved ones, that they were ensuring the city was preparing to rebuild after the siege, he was spending that time hooking up with Quinn? She prepared to advance, adjusting her grip on the swords.

Noah saw this subtle shift in her grip, and prepared for what was to come. Gia had perfected a technique that the others, himself included didn't really favour, the Cable Sabres. The swords had extending cables within them that allowed them to be used as medium-ranged flail weapons. Seeing her prepare the cables subtly, he knew exactly what to expect.

As the cables extended, and Gia swung the swords, Noah stood and watched the movement of the swords, parrying them where he needed to while he figured out the pattern of the swings. As soon as he did, he made his move.

His first strike sliced through one of the cables, sending the sword spinning through the air, slamming into the mast right between Jake and Emma, sticking there as it hit. As the other came around, he cut through its cable sending it spinning over the edge of the ship.

"My sword!" Gia called out.

"I'll get it!" Tensou rushed out as he flew over the edge to retrieve it before it fell to the ground and killed someone. Gia felt the point of a sword at her throat, and got up, looking at Noah, who had an arrogant little smirk on his face.

"That Cable Sabre thing works well on X-borgs." He told her. Gia just swatted his blade aside, before storming away from him and down the stairs into the ship. Noah just held up his hands. Emma went with her. "Oh come on, there's no need to be a bad loser!"

"I don't think it's losing that bothered her dude." Jake told him. Noah just looked a little confused as Jake left.

"What did I do?" He asked. Troy just shook his head as Tensou arrived back with the sword in his beak. He dropped it on the floor.

"What do you have for us Tensou?" Troy asked.

"We're almost there." He stated. "We'll be touching down in Blue Bay Harbour within the hour."

"Any luck finding our 'Lion Hearted defender of the law?'" Noah asked him.

"It seems the ninja have more tricks at their disposal than I gave them credit for." Tensou said sadly. "I've scanned the mountains, but I can't find any man-made objects, or power signatures or anything! They must have some means of concealing the school."

"I guess that was kind of the ninja's MO." Noah sighed. "If they didn't want to be found..."

"That really isn't helpful." Troy answered. "Let's just land and rest up. We can start asking around in the morning, see if anyone knows anything about the ninja."

"I guess I'll head down and start on dinner." Noah replied with a shrug. "None of the others looked like they were in much of a mood to cook."

As he left, Jordan just looked between Noah and Troy.

"He...he really doesn't get why the others are pissed does he?" He asked. Troy just shook his head.

"I'll speak to him later." Troy answered. "In the meantime, anything you can bring up about the ninjas would be really helpful."

"I'll see what I can find." Jordan replied as he disappeared.

Meanwhile, a few miles from Blue Bay Harbour, some men were working on a building site, preparing the ground for works to begin when they were interrupted by a loud car horn. The foreman turned around to see a black Mercedes pulling into the lot, parking nearby. Some of the other workmen all looked as a man got out of the car.

He was a tall man, about six feet, wearing an expensive black suit, with a white shirt, and a red silk tie. It had a golden tie pin, with a lion's face set into it. As he approached, he pulled off his Ray Ban sunglasses, and took a leather bag from the passenger seat of his car.

"Alright, everybody stop what you're doing!" He called out as loudly as he could. He pointed to a guy in a digger. "Hey, buddy, kill the engine! Everybody, put down your tools! Stop working!"

"Hey, what gives?" The foreman asked as the rest of the workmen started to put down their tools, confused as to what was going on. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Who the hell are you?"

"Dustin Brooks." He replied, handing the foreman a business card. "I'm from Magsavia, Martin and Brooks legal services."

"You're a lawyer?" The foreman asked. Dustin just pulled a set of document out of his case and handed them to him.

"I'm serving you with a cease and desist order." Dustin told him. "There have been a number of complaints against the building works here. Numerous clients of mine have made claims of threats of violence and intimidation against them for access to the site for study."

"What the...?"

"The court granted permission for a geological survey, archaeological survey and an environmental impact assessment to be performed. By refusing access to these surveys, you are in direct violation of a court order." Dustin continued, completely unfazed. "Failure to comply with these surveys before commencing work is a crime."

"Look, I don't know who you think you're dealing with here." The foreman told him. "Do you know who runs this site?"

"I do, and frankly, I don't care." Dustin told him. "You can't intimidate me. If you so much as break ground on this development, I'll have all of you charged. In addition, I'll slap an injunction on this development that'll tie it up in court for years until those surveys are done."

"You really think any of that will work?" The foreman asked him. "Mr Winchester has friends in city hall. He'll have all that paperwork signed sealed and delivered..."

"If you're referring to Councillor Roberts, then you and I both know he has a gambling problem, and a really bad habit of playing high-stakes poker." Dustin told him. "While I can't prove that, I can delay anything done here until long after my clients get a chance to do their surveys. Them, not some non-existent stooge in Winchester's pocket, but someone I know will actually do the studies."

"Alright, look, what do you want?" The Foreman asked. "I have Mr Winchester's number on speed dial. I'm sure we can figure something out..."

"Is that an offer to bribe me?" Dustin asked him. "You're lucky I don't have any witnesses here."

"That's a good point." The foreman replied, clicking his fingers. The other workmen started to gather around. "You don't have any witnesses do you?"

"You're seriously doing this?" Dustin asked him. "I should warn you, I don't scare as easily as my clients."

"I just thought you should know, building sites are dangerous places." The foreman warned him. "Sometimes, bad things happen. Sometimes people just...get hurt."

"Alright, just...give me a second." Dustin replied. He went to his car, putting his case and his sunglasses inside, before heading back to the foreman. "Alright...this is your last chance!"

The foreman took a swing for Dustin, only to find himself driven head-first into a port-a-potty. Another eight of the site workers all attacked, but they were no match for him. Dustin might have taken on a career in law since his Ranger days, but he was still a sensei of the Earth Style in the Wind Ninja Academy.

As he dispatched the last of his attackers with a hard right cross, he looked around to make sure none of them were getting back up. He went over, picking up the court order and dropped it onto the site foreman's chest.

"Since I have no witnesses, and I'm pretty sure the security footage from the cameras will be corrupted before I call the cops, we'll just forget this happened." Dustin told him. "Call Mr Winchester and tell him that if he so much as disturbs one blade of grass before my clients perform their studies, I'll be back, and next time I won't ask so nicely."

With that, he got into his Merc, and replaced his sunglasses, before pulling a three-point turn and leaving the building site and the injured builders behind him.

**A/N: **Well, there we go, the next cameo has made his appearance! Dustin Brooks, everyone's favourite Yellow Ninja! Congratulations to everyone who figured that out.

In case anyone's interested in trivia, my decision to make him a lawyer here is inspired by the fact that in real life, Glenn McMillan who played him actually did become a lawyer in real life! I just loved the idea. Who wouldn't want a Wind Ninja defending them in the courtroom? He has since confirmed he has left the legal profession and gone back to acting, but I just loved the idea so much, I've decided to run with it. Hope you all enjoyed it!


	2. The New Blade In Town

On the Armada Command Ship, Prince Vekar was still in a foul mood after the disaster that was the siege of Harwood. He had hoped to send Earth a message in what it meant to defy his rule, to resist and disobey his orders, but the message they had received was very different. Not only had the Rangers now destroyed three of his Commanders, and several of his X-borgs and Bruisers, but they had then launched a devastating counter-offensive, taking out a significant portion of his fleet. They had decimated the first wave of his invasion force, and it was only their lack of a long-range space craft that had stopped them taking more. The message had been sent, and now, he had been made to look weak. Now, the Earth had hope, and reports of people daring to speak out against The Armada were increasing at an alarming rate.

Worse, he knew that until more ships arrived, he had no option but to wait. He couldn't risk another full-on assault, or even to come closer than Earth's moon in case the Rangers launched another attack like they had before. He was now reduced to sitting and waiting, while his tactical advisors came up with a way to hamstring the Rangers before they became any more powerful.

"The Red Galleon has been seen over Blue Bay Harbour Boss." Damaras informed him, stepping away from his console. "They have activated their cloaking device, but they were seen to be descending towards the city before our sensors lost them."

"Blue Bay Harbour?" He asked. "They must be after more of those damned Ranger Keys!"

"I would say that seems likely." Lavira told him in a sigh. "I'm still sifting through what's left of the data we gathered on Earth. Our data banks were badly damaged in the last attack, but we have confirmed that there was a Ranger team there at one time, just over ten years ago."

"We have to wait months on end for our fleet's reinforcements, and in the meantime we have to sit and watch them getting stronger?" Vekar demanded, slamming his hands into his console in a fit of temper. "This is UNACCEPTABLE! I am the undisputed ruler of this galaxy!"

"Yeah, let's just not say anything about the Troobians." Lavira muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" Prince Vekar asked her.

"Nothing." She replied, before looking to Damaras and Argus. "Perhaps one of your strategic advisors can suggest something?"

"I believe I have just the Commander in mind." Argus stated as he looked to a door. It slid open, and a new Commander walked in. He was black, with angular, sharp armour that looked almost like blades across his shoulders and helmet. He had deep red eyes, and a sword strapped to his waist. "Meet Skatana, one of my finest students."

"And what can he do?" Prince Vekar asked him.

"He is easily one of the finest swordsmen I have ever trained." Argus informed him. "His technique is all but flawless. He once defeated an army of five hundred single-handed."

"Impressive." Prince Vekar sneered. "But how will he fare against the Rangers? Is he prepared to face them?"

"Actually he volunteered sir." Argus told him. Skatana stepped forward, bowing slightly.

"Rumours of the Rangers' prowess has spread throughout your empire Your Highness." Skatana told him. "I look forward to crossing blades with them, and proving myself against their legendary skills."

"That sounds...foolish." Damaras stated. "To face such odds out of misplaced pride sounds somewhat suicidal."

"You have obviously never seen me fight." Skatana replied. He turned back to Prince Vekar. "Please, allow me to deal with the Rangers for you."

"If you do as you promised, you will be greatly rewarded." Prince Vekar assured him.

"The only reward I seek is to be acknowledged as the greatest warrior." Skatana answered as he turned and left. Damaras and Lavira just watched him go.

"He doesn't want a reward?" Damaras asked. "Your Highness, how can you trust someone so foolish...?"

"What do I care?" Prince Vekar replied with a smile. "If he takes care of the Rangers, that's good enough. If he does it for free, then that's just an offer I can't afford to pass up."

Meanwhile, back on Earth, the Rangers had disembarked and headed into the city. They weren't exactly sure what the public opinion was on the new team in Blue Bay, so they had opted to change into civilian gear, thinking that their pirate outfits would attract far too much attention.

They knew that there had been a Ranger team here before, but unlike some of the other teams, they didn't actually know who they were. They had never actually met any of them before, and while they were sure that the Samurai had mentioned meeting them once for some cross-training, none of them could remember off-hand who they had said they were. What that meant was that as far as actually finding them, they were on square one, knowing the city to start in, but nothing else.

"So, let me get this straight, we have to find a ninja, a master in the art of blending into his surroundings in his home city, when we have no idea what he looks like or who he is?" Jake sighed as he and Gia walked past a half-pipe, narrowly avoiding being knocked down by an errant skateboarder as he flew off his board, landing in a heap by their feet. Jake grabbed him and lifted him to his feet. "I don't suppose you're a ninja are you kid?"

"Ninja?" He sniggered. "Dude, 2003 called, they want their reference back."

As he skated away, Gia just rolled her eyes and turned to face Jake.

"What?" He asked.

"OK, point number one, if he WAS a ninja, do you really think he'd just tell you considering they spend all their time learning how NOT to be noticed?" Gia asked him sarcastically. "Secondly...that kid's like fifteen! He'd barely have been out of diapers when the Ninja Rangers were active!"

"You think a lot of kids wear diapers until they're five?" Jake asked her with a smile. Gia just stormed away. "Come on Gia, it was a joke."

"Well it was a stupid joke!" She snapped at him. Jake just sighed as he ran to catch up to her.

"I'm guessing this mood you're in isn't to do with me making stupid jokes." Jake postulated thoughtfully as he put his arm around her shoulders. Gia just continued to walk, barely paying attention. "This is about Noah..."

"I don't care what Noah does with Quinn!" Gia interrupted him. Jake just looked to her as he released her.

"Um...OK, that was convincing." Jake replied. "Gia, would it help if I told you I wasn't happy about it either?"

"Jake..."

"Gia, I know it sucks not being able to be with someone you love." Jake told her. "I got to see Allison, and when I did, don't you think that thought crossed my mind?"

"Jake, it's not the same..."

"I know what happened with Cat was rough on you, and I'm really sorry, but you're not the only one that isn't happy about this." Jake assured her. "When Noah said...well...you know...it really wasn't what I wanted to hear. I wasn't happy thinking that while I was concentrating on what we were doing he was..."

"Getting lucky?" Gia asked him. Jake just nodded.

"Look, I get that was a big thing for him, but to say what he did, it was a little insensitive, I agree." Jake answered. "We had to leave behind people we loved, and he kind of rubbed that in our faces. It didn't feel good for me either."

"I know it's a big thing for him." She grumbled, beginning to make her way along the path again, jumping aside as a kid on rollerblades scooted past them, almost hitting them. "But it's not just that."

"Then...what is it?" Jake asked her.

"Have you noticed Noah's kind of...changed?" She asked him. He looked to her and smirked.

"Are you kidding?" He asked her. "Of course I've noticed..."

"Noticed the fact he's become an insufferable jerk?" Gia asked him. Jake just smiled at her.

"Is this because of that bet you made?" He asked her. Gia just rolled her eyes and shoved him away. "OK, I'm guessing not."

As she started to head down the path, she tripped on something, twisting her ankle. A guy just glared up at her.

"Hey, that's my tool kit!" He complained, starting to gather the scattered tools off the ground. Gia saw he was working on a dirt bike and growled slightly.

"What is it with this damned city and the X-games?" She complained, starting to hobble away.

"I don't know. All towns have their obsessions; you know what Harwood was like during soccer season." Jake replied. "Maybe if we have some time, we can see if there's a BMX track around here, I'm sure Emma would love to..."

He bumped into Gia as she stopped suddenly.

"What is it?" He asked her. Gia just pointed to an advertising billboard.

"What was that part in the poem again about the defender of law?" Gia asked him. Jake just shrugged, but she pointed to the billboard. He read it, seeing what she was looking at.

"Martin Mugsavia and Brooks Legal Services?" He asked.

"A law firm." Gia answered with a smile. "The defenders of the law."

"You've...never been in a courtroom have you?" Jake asked her. She just nudged him gently.

"It's always worth a look isn't it?" She asked. Jake just shook his head as Gia took down the address.

"You were sceptical about getting the truth from a ninja, and you think you're going to get it from a lawyer?" He laughed. "Now who's being naive?"

Elsewhere in the city, Noah and Emma were searching another part of the city, checking out the local shops. Emma went into a place, finding it packed with sporting goods. A huge smile spread across her face as she looked around.

"Whoa." Noah exclaimed. "I knew this place was obsessed with X-games, but this place..."

"Check my pulse!" Emma said as she offered him her wrist, seeing a whole aisle dedicated to BMX gear she just could never have dreamed of getting in Harwood, other than through mail order. "I think I just died and went to heaven."

"I'm guessing you guys aren't from around here." They heard a voice behind them say. They turned to see a woman with long, blonde hair approaching them. She offered them a handshake. "Hi, I'm Tori Hanson."

"I'm Emma, this is Noah." She replied. "This place, this is incredible!"

"It's not the biggest store in town, but most people say it's the best." Tori informed her. "I run my own line of custom surf boards out of here, but if you want to talk to the real expert, the owner's just over there if you want..."

"Um...actually, we were looking for a person." Noah told her. "Do you know anyone that goes by the name or is described as lion hearted or anything like that?"

"Seriously, this is X-games central." Tori chuckled. "People give themselves nicknames like that all the time. I met like fifty 'Aces' in the last year."

"How about ninjas?" Emma asked. Do you know anything about ninjas?"

"Oh, you're Ranger groupies." Tori answered. "No offence, but I didn't think many people still came here looking for the Ninja Rangers. Especially kids your age..."

"Some friends in Panorama mentioned them." Noah told her. "Come on Emma, there's obviously nothing here."

"But can't I just..."

"Come on!" Noah told her, dragging her out of the store. Tori followed them to the door, and watched them disappear down the street, before taking out her cell phone, taking a couple of pictures without them noticing. She dialled, and made sure no one was paying attention as she pulled into a corner to take the call.

"Hello, Jayden?" She asked. "Right, Antonio...um...I've just had a couple of people in here asking questions about the Ninja Rangers. They said they were sent this way by friends in Panorama, and they look kind of familiar."

She sent the picture, before holding up the phone.

"So...is this just another tourist, or is this something the others need to know about?" Tori asked him.

Elsewhere in the city, Dustin came up in the elevator of the office building of the legal practice he worked in, carrying a large paper bag in one hand, and a cardboard tray of Starbucks cups in the other. He made his way down the corridor, getting to a waiting room just outside his office. He stopped by his secretary's desk, and placed the coffees down.

"Sorry I'm late Tammy, serving those papers took a little longer than I expected." Dustin said as he put down the paper bag.

"Your suit's messed up." Tammy commented, sweeping some hair back behind her hair. "Did they...?"

"It's nothing a decent dry cleaner won't fix." Dustin assured her with a smile as he reached into a bag. "Bear claw?"

"Dustin...!"

"You're worried about me aren't you?" He asked, cupping her cheek with his hand. She just sighed.

"I just...I just don't see why you had to go and do that." She complained. "We do have Process Servers for that kind of thing."

"And if I'd sent a Process Server, he'd have ended up in the Emergency Room and those guys would just say they never got the papers." Dustin reminded her as he pulled in closer, kissing her cheek gently. "Besides, you know I'm not exactly helpless."

"I know Sensei." She sighed, before looking to him. "There are a couple of kids waiting for you in room three."

"Do I have any appointments...?" Dustin asked, before catching what she said. "Wait, did you say kids?"

"They're about 18." Tammy told him. She looked around. "They came in here asking to speak with the senior partners. Ms Martin and Mr Magsavia are out of town."

"Did they say what it's about?" Dustin asked her.

"No, but..." Her words tailed off as she turned her computer screen towards him. "I took scans of the pictures from their drivers' licences. I ran it through facial recognition and..."

"Holy sh...are you crazy?" Dustin asked her, seeing the wanted posters on the screen. "You're telling me two of the Corsair Rangers just walked in here?"

"I figured that you'd want to speak to them Sensei." She assured him. He pulled her in, kissing her forehead.

"Good call." He answered. "Hold my calls, I've got a feeling this'll take a while. Enjoy your latte."

As he was making his way towards the room though, all of a sudden, they heard a loud crash from outside. Dustin steadied himself as the building stopped shaking, before taking a glance out of the window. As he watched, a nearby skyscraper was hit with a flash of light, before the top few floors slid off, like the entire building had been sliced cleanly by some unseen blade.

"Well, there goes ten quiet years." Dustin said as he headed to the room. As he opened the door, he saw that Gia and Jake were gone.

"Wow, so that's what that feels like." He commented. "Now I know how Kelly felt."

Down on the ground, Skatana was walking through the streets with a contingent of X-borgs and Bruisers, causing a panic to draw out the Rangers. It had been a long time since he had felt this way about an upcoming battle. Skatana had been in Prince Vekar's army for a long time now, but unlike most, who constantly clamoured for his attention in the hopes of being rewarded with gifts, riches, titles or even worlds to command under his supervision, none of that mattered to him. To Skatana, the only thing that mattered was testing himself, proving to the galaxy that he was the best in existence, that there was no one that could match him with a blade.

He swung his sword, sending out another bright red wave that sliced apart a building, causing it to fall apart like a freshly cut sapling. Noah and Emma, who had by sheer chance only been a couple of streets away were the first on the scene. Noah pointed straight at him.

"Hey!" He called out. "This stops RIGHT NOW!"

"What exactly do we have here?" Skatana asked in an arrogant scoff. He knew exactly who they were; he studied any of the warriors he intended to challenge at length before he took the field. He has been in another star system when he first heard of the troublesome Rangers, and the problems they were causing Prince Vekar. As soon as he'd heard about them, he knew he just had to confront them. Foes that powerful were simply an irresistible challenge.

"We're the Power Rangers!" Noah told him. "And we're going to shut you down!"

"The Power Rangers!" He said, raising his sword. "At last, the challenge I've been waiting for! I'll start with the puny girl."

Emma was about to say something, but Noah just stepped forward, interjecting between her and Skatana, gently pushing her back. Emma looked to Noah, a little surprised to see him like this.

"Her name's Emma!" He stated with authority. "And don't you dare talk about her that way!"

"How chivalrous of you." Skatana mocked him as he faced off against him. The other Rangers arrived a short time after him. Skatana just looked to him. "So, you're chivalrous when you have friends to hide behind..."

"NOAH!" Emma yelled as Noah morphed and ran straight at Skatana, his sword at the ready. He and Skatana broke off as their swords rang out, heading for a parking lot, looking for somewhere they would have room to fight. They all just stared after him.

"Um...Gia, you know what you were saying before?" Jake asked. Gia just nodded. "I think I finally see what you're talking about."

"We can talk about that later." Troy answered, turning their attention back to the robots heading their way. "We have our own issues to deal with."


	3. Dustin's Lesson

Noah and Skatana's spilled into an underground parking complex, the clash of their swords echoing around the structure as they battled for supremacy. Noah was astounded by Skatana's speed and skill, but as they parted, giving themselves some room to breathe, Skatana just looked at Noah, and started to stretch out his shoulders.

"You're not bad human." He complimented him. "You've clearly been training hard."

"I just get better." Noah responded, stepping foot-over foot as he started to circle him, looking for favourable positioning. He analysed everything about the room as he looked for position. There was no one in the parking structure, so there were no civilians to worry about, and there were no cars moving. As he positioned himself to be facing up the central lane, he checked out the lay of the land with his feet. It was subtle, but the parking structure was on a small incline. He circled to ensure he was facing downhill as Skatana prepared for his next attack. He had the high ground, without his opponent realising it. When he made his move, it would add approximately two percent to his momentum. Perfect, he thought with a small smile.

"Then let us see." Skatana stated, bringing up his sword. Noah analysed where his guard and the positioning of his feet were, judging where the strike was likely to come. He started his charge, quickly shifting his guard to compensate. As Skatana started to make his move, Noah saw it coming. He was moving alarmingly quickly, but having figured out where the strike would come, Noah barely managed to parry it, before spinning around. He used his momentum, riding the spin and threw himself to the ground with it, narrowly avoiding Skatana's return strike, the one he had anticipated from his form, and sliced him neatly across the ribcage, the point of his sword making it through a small partition in his armour. As Noah rolled back to his feet, he saw Skatana clutching his side.

"Not bad for a human huh?" Noah asked him, smiling confidently as Skatana got ready to face him again. The alien rushed forward, avoiding Noah's first strike and ducking the return. He sliced across Noah's leg, before spinning through and slashing downwards across his back, sending sparks flying as Noah flew face-first into the side of a parked car. Noah got back to his feet, cursing himself for being caught out like that. He should have seen a low strike coming. It was classic form when someone had the low ground in an exchange to throw off their expectations of a high strike by aiming low instead. Skatana flipped away from him, standing a little way away and started to power up.

"So, you're good on the first strike, but you have problems with a protracted conflict, that is something you will want to work on." Skatana told him.

"I don't take lessons from guys that carve up cities and attack people indiscriminately!" Noah shot back. Skatana just laughed.

"Well, the only thing more foolish than a swordsman who fails to train himself for a battle beyond the first couple of strikes is one who fails to heed lessons from those who face him." Skatana warned him. "I've only been playing with you up until now boy!"

"I'm no boy!" Noah yelled angrily. Skatana just stood face-on, the point of his sword facing the ground.

"It is impressive you managed to land a blow, it's been a long time." Skatana complimented him. "But let me show you what I can do when I'm not holding back!"

Noah steadied himself, waiting for an attack, but found himself astonished as Skatana brought his blade around in a circle in front of him. As he did so, the blade leaving a shimmering trace as it went; more swords seemed to appear from it, hanging in the air in a circle. By the time there were seemingly dozens of swords just hanging in the air; Noah couldn't take his eyes off Skatana.

"Blade of Infinity, Fire!" Skatana called out, swinging his sword. As it carved an intricate pattern through the air, his sword clashed with the ones hanging in the air, sending them flying straight at Noah. He took a deep breath, swinging his sword to intercept them. He struggled to keep up as the storm of blades flew his way in a seemingly unstoppable surge. He felt a couple narrowly graze past, only just missing him, before Skatana thrust his own blade through the middle of the tunnel of blades. It struck Noah square in the chest, sending him falling to the floor. All the air left him, and he felt his ribs strain to withstand the blow. It took all the energy in the suit to prevent him becoming a human kebab. As he hit the floor, he de-morphed, ending up on the ground. Skatana made his way over to him, at which Noah could only look up at him, barely able to breathe.

"Giving up so soon?" Skatana mocked him. Noah felt his anger burning in him at the mocking, and tried to get to his feet, but his strength completely failed him and he ended up face-down on the ground without Skatana even touching him.

"Back off monster!" Troy yelled as the other Rangers arrived, having only just finished with Skatana's retinue, arriving in time to stand over Noah defensively.

"Not you pests again." He sighed, putting his sword away. "I'll destroy you when it's your turn."

"And next time, you'll be up against all five of us!" Gia yelled as she and Troy stood guard, while Jake and Emma checked on Noah.

"No, just one." Skatana answered.

"What are you talking about?" Jake asked in response.

"We will finish our duel Blue. It would be finished already if it weren't for your friends." He stated, staring straight at Noah. Noah could feel nothing but frustration, not just because he had been defeated, but because he knew Skatana was right. He had him dead to rights, and only the other four Rangers standing in his way stopped him from taking his time to decide exactly how he wanted to finish him off. "They'll pay for their intrusion when I'm done with you!"

Noah really burned up hearing that. He couldn't, he wouldn't let anyone threaten his team, or the people he cared about.

"Meet me on the beach tomorrow!" He told him. "I hope you'll be more of a challenge than you were today."

With that, he disappeared as he walked away. The other Rangers de-morphed as the helped Noah to his feet.

"I've got to go after him!" Noah yelled.

"Just ignore him." Jake said quietly as he looked to Noah. "Come on, we'll get you to the ship and check..."

"He's got a point!" Noah interrupted him harshly. "I need to prove I can beat this guy!"

"Noah, he's playing with your mind." Troy told him as Jake and Gia looked to each other, wordlessly recalling their earlier conversation. They both rolled their eyes.

"Come on Noah, don't be ridiculous." Jake stated. Noah just gave him a dark glare.

"Yeah, because that's just it isn't it? It's ridiculous that the computer nerd can beat a monster isn't it?" Noah asked him.

"Noah, last time I counted, there were five of us." Gia reminded him. "We're a team."

"I'll see you later." Noah replied as he shook his head as he walked away.

"Noah, where are you going?" Troy called after him. "We have a job to do!"

"And last time I counted there were five of us! We're a team!" Noah answered sarcastically, parroting Gia's words. "I think four of you should be able to find them!"

As he left, Emma ran after him a few paces, but he quickly disappeared into the complex. Jake just looked to the others.

"OK, I know he's a friend and everything, but...am I the only one seeing similarities to the big creepy guy with the sword?" He asked.

"So what do we do?" Emma asked, looking concerned. Troy just thought about it for a moment.

"Someone should go with him." Troy answered. "Emma, see if you can catch up to him, just in case he runs into trouble. Jake, you and Gia said you had a lead?"

"We think we were onto something." Jake answered. Troy just nodded.

"That's good enough for me." He replied as they all walked away.

They weren't gone long, before Tori, Shane and Dustin all stepped out of the shadows. Dustin shook his head in disbelief.

"Well, that confirms it, they are the Corsair Rangers." Tori commented. "It's kind of a shame about the Blue guy though."

"Yeah, that brings back some memories right?" Dustin asked as they both looked to Shane. He just threw up his hands.

"Oh come on, you're still getting on my case about that?" He asked. "It was 11 years ago!"

"And yet, it still looks awfully familiar." Tori commented. Shane just sighed.

"So, we know they're in town, and they're looking for us." Shane answered, ignoring the jokes at his expense.

"Two of them showed up at my office." Dustin reminded them. "I think we can probably guess what they're after."

"Yeah, there's just one problem." Tori stated. "And I'm sorry to say, it's my counterpart that's the issue, but are we sure we can rely on them with our old powers?"

"Let me deal with this." Dustin told them. "I think I have an idea."

"Do we want to know?" Tori asked him.

"Probably not." Dustin answered. "Keep an eye on the others for me; make sure none of them get into any trouble."

With that, he ninja-streaked away. Tori looked to Shane.

"So, we're just following his lead on this?" He asked.

"The keys appeared to him for some reason." She reminded him. "We've been doing this too long to think there isn't a reason for everything."

"So what are we meant to do in the meantime?" Shane asked. "Are we just babysitting?"

"There's no reason that can't be fun." Tori answered with a mischievous smirk. Shane smiled knowingly.

"I like the way you think." He replied as they both ninja-streaked out of the parking lot in search of the Corsair Rangers.

In a forest, a little way from the main city, Noah was standing alone with his sword in his hand. He let his memories of the attack earlier flood his brain. His humiliation burned in him, making his blood feel like acid in his veins. He had found somewhere to train, and he had been at it for a while. He launched into another pattern, swinging his sword in intricate arcs. As he did so, his mind worked to analyse every move, timing it against his memory of the attack. He needed to think of every move, analysing every position the blade ended up in, trying to match what he remembered. He stopped and cursed loudly after a moment. Once again, he was just too slow.

"Noah." Emma said, coming into view as he paused for a moment to catch his breath. He looked up to her.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her.

"I just wanted to see if you were alright." She told him.

"I'll be fine once I take care of that monster." Noah told her gruffly. "I just want to be left alone."

"Noah, why are you beating yourself up about this?" Emma asked him.

"Because I've never faced a monster like this before." He told her. Emma just backed off, looking at him a little sceptically.

"You never faced a monster with a superiority complex that wants to kill you just to prove he can?" Emma asked him. "Noah, that's pretty much every second monster we've faced!"

"I meant one that makes me feel completely useless like this!" Noah yelled at her. She jumped with a little start as he yelled at her.

"Noah, you're not useless. No one thinks that!" Emma told him.

"You don't get it Emma, my whole life all I've been is the nerd!" Noah told her. "I was the last kid to be able to do a chin up, and everyone laughed at me. No one cared that I was reading at fourth grade level by the time I even started school!"

"Noah..."

"I couldn't catch or kick a stupid ball to save my life, so everyone called me a dork and laughed at me!" Noah continued. "No one cared that I could already write computer programmes, all anyone cared about was that I wasn't the most physical guy on the planet!"

He looked to her as he drove his sword into the ground.

"I was always the one everyone came to when they wanted to check their homework answers or fix their computers, but I never got so much as one 'hey, that's pretty neat, you're really good' from any of them!" Noah continued to rant. "Then I spent the last few months training to get better with a sword. I studied every video, every book I could find, I practiced day and night, and...I'm good! I'm really good!"

"Noah, no one doubts that." Emma told him.

"Aren't they?" He asked her. "Emma, this is the first time in my life I've been good at anything that anyone else gave a shit about! This is the first time I've had you and Jake and Gia...even Troy looking at me and being impressed."

"So your pride's been hurt?" Emma asked him.

"Emma, this is the first time I've excelled in anything that anyone cared about, and that guy stomped my ass in five minutes flat!" Noah told her. "If I don't do this, I don't know how I'm going to hold my head up in this team again!"

Emma just took a deep breath, taking in what Noah had told her. She just looked up at him.

"Noah, I get that this hurts your feelings, but if you want my advice..."

"Emma, get DOWN!" Noah called out as he shoved her to the ground, seeing some shuriken flying towards them. He snatched up his sword, smacking three of them away, embedding them in nearby trees. He looked up in time to see Dustin arriving, clapping him.

"That...that was pretty impressive." Dustin complimented him. He pulled a ninjato out of a hiding spot behind a tree. "You have some pretty mad skills."

"OK, whoever you are, I'm really not in the mood." Noah told him. "If you're after a fight..."

"Actually, I thought you might want a hand training." Dustin told him. Noah just looked to him and snorted.

"What could you teach me?" Noah asked him. Dustin ninja-streaked around Noah, and then to Emma, hauling her to his feet, before appearing back in his original position.

"I have a few tricks up my sleeve." Dustin stated. Emma noticed she had a business card in her hand, and read it.

"Dustin Brooks, attorney at law." She read aloud, before looking to his tie pin, seeing the gold lion face on it.

"You...you're the lion-hearted defender of the law." Emma surmised. "You were one of the Ninja Rangers!"

"Dustin Brooks, Yellow Ninja Ranger at your service." He replied with a bow.

"So, you're the one we need to get the Ranger keys from." Emma answered. "Do you have them? Can you...?"

"I know exactly what you're looking for, but I'm not going to give them to you." Dustin put down flatly. He pointed to Noah. "I have concerns about that guy. I don't think he's ready for the Ninja Keys."

"If you want to see what I can do..."

"Follow me." He replied, throwing his ninjato to Noah. Noah just looked to him curiously.

"I already have a sword." Noah told him. Dustin just smiled.

"You can never have too many swords for this exercise." Dustin told him, ninja-streaking away. "Oh, Emma? You might want to move aside."

"Move aside for...WHAT THE HELL?" Emma leapt aside, out of the way as she heard a loud crash, following which dozens of daggers started flying through the air headed straight for Noah. The Blue Ranger gripped the two swords tightly, swinging them smashing them out of the air. He winced in pain as one of them got a little too close, slicing into his arm. He held his hand over the wound, and fell to his knees.

"Noah!" Emma shrieked as she ran to his side. "What the hell is he meant to learn from that?"

"Again!" Noah grunted as he got to his feet.

"Are you sure about that?" Dustin asked. Noah just picked up his swords.

"I said, again!" Noah replied. With that, there was another loud crash, and more blades started to fly towards him. Emma just stood to the side, watching as Noah tortured himself, single-mindedly focused on perfecting his attack. She could tell he was imagining himself facing Skatana's Eternity Blade Attack again, and preparing a way to defeat it. Although she wanted to get him to stop, she remembered what Dustin had said, he wanted to test Noah, to ensure he was ready for the Ninja Ranger keys. She only hoped Noah could convince him before he ended up as a human knife block.


	4. Noah's Duel

Emma watched as Noah ran Dustin's training drill again and again, each time pushing himself a little harder. His clothing was sliced in several places, and he had a number of superficial cuts, but he pushed onwards, hour after hour, run after run.

She hated to see him push himself like this. It was completely unlike Noah to get so wrapped up in an opponent like this. He was normally a voice of reason. He was usually right beside Troy in forming plans before they did anything. He was usually one of the ones advising caution and strategy but something about this latest monster, this Skatana had really gotten under his skin. Noah wouldn't listen to anyone, no matter how many times they told him they would face Skatana together. It was a matter of ego, that much was clear. He was determined that he had to destroy Skatana himself.

As she watched him work with his cutlass and the ninjato Dustin had lent him, she summoned up her own cutlass. She hated to think that she couldn't get through to him, but if Noah was going to go through with this, then she was going to help him in any way she could, even if all he would let her do is lend him a sword.

As the time wore on, she took a long sip of lemonade. Noah had worked for so long that she had ended up going to get them some food, a couple of subs and some sodas. She doubted that he would give up and go to eat while the food was still warm. As the light started to dwindle, she found her eyelids becoming heavy, and before long she lay down, just for a second to rest her eyes, and drifted off into a deep sleep.

Noah continued to work right through the night. When it became so dark it became difficult to see the blades even coming, burning torches ignited around him. He would probably have been impressed, curious as to how Dustin performed all of these ninja tricks, but all he could think about was Skatana and his seemingly invincible Infinity Blade Strike. Each time, he ran the drill, he felt himself coming a little closer, but there was just one thing left, the one attack that had actually managed to get him, the hammer that finished the fight.

As the sun started to come up, Dustin watched Noah as he threw himself with gusto into another run of flying blades, he smiled. His timing and his technique were impeccable. He had changed up the configuration a little with each run just so that Noah wouldn't come to expect blades from the same place every time. As the run neared its end, Dustin picked up a knife himself, and taking careful aim, threw it straight for Noah's heart.

Noah saw the blade coming, and brought up his sword, levelling the blade straight along, recalling the last strike. As the blade came, he channelled his power through the cutlass, and as the knife struck home, it split down the middle, the two pieces spinning harmlessly away. Dustin nodded his head, impressed with his student.

As Noah took note of the sun rising, remembering that he was due to meet Skatana for his rematch, he went over to where Emma was resting. He saw the food beside, her, picking up the bag as he prepared to leave. He saw her cutlass resting against a nearby tree, and realising that she had likely called it, intending to give it to him to use in his duel, he summoned up his blaster, laying it down beside her quietly so that he didn't wake her. He picked up her sword and walked away, preparing to face his duel.

Dustin waited a while to ensure Noah was gone. He needed to give him a good head start. Noah needed to face Skatana alone, that much was clear. As he went to Emma's side, he knelt next to her.

"You're a real gentleman kid." Dustin said with a smile as he pulled out some smelling salts. "But with the draft I put in her lemonade, she wouldn't have woken up if a marching band marched right by her."

He uncorked the vial, and placed it under Emma's nostrils. He saw a slight grimace in her face and knew it was working. He pulled out his cell phone and called Tori.

"Tori, it's me." He told her. "Yeah, it's time. I think we've given the Rangers the run-around long enough."

He looked to Emma, seeing her starting to stir.

"Yeah, I need to get going, I'll catch you there." He told Tori. "Class is in session."

With that, he ninja-streaked out before Emma came to. She rubbed her eyes, looking around and finding no trace of Noah, until her eyes rested on his blaster sitting right next to where her sword had been sitting. Realising that he had to have gone to face Skatana, she snatched it up and started heading for the beach as fast as she could.

In another part of town, Tori and Shane were watching the Rangers looking around a parking lot. They had been giving the Rangers the run-around all night. When they had gone back to Dustin's office, on their orders, his receptionist and girlfriend Tammy had told them that he was visiting a client in a motel on the other side of town. From there, they had been following them, laying a trail of false information and fake clues, keeping them one step behind a phantom Dustin. As Tori hung up, Shane just looked to her.

"Yeah, it's time." Tori told him. "The fun's over."

"So, this is how Dustin teaches now?" Shane asked.

"Need I remind you that out of our first three students, only Tammy actually graduated from the Wind Academy?" Tori asked him. "And if I remember rightly, your student Eric flunked out after...two months?"

"Three actually." Shane grumbled. "It took me a while to find my stride as a sensei alright?"

"Believe me, I don't get Dustin's methods either, but they seem to work for him." Tori answered as the Rangers came out of a drop-in centre, looking a little tired, and more than a little frustrated. "Anyway, since my counterpart's heading for the beach, I guess it's time we led the Rangers there."

"How do we do that?" Shane asked. Just then, they saw the Corsair Rangers answering their morphers. They started to get agitated, before running off towards the beach. Tori just smiled.

"That's Waldo." She responded. "I can never figure out how he does it, but he really thinks of everything."

"Alright, then let's go." Shane answered. "We're meeting Dustin at the point right?"

"We'll get a good view of the show from there." Tori replied as they got up, ninja-streaking away, aiming to arrive ahead of the Corsairs.

Meanwhile, on the point, Dustin was the first to arrive, and took up position to watch. He was there in good time, arriving just as Noah got to the beach, carrying the two swords he had brought with him. Skatana just scoffed as he saw him.

"I didn't think you would show up." He stated.

"You're about to regret that I did!" Noah answered, facing him down. Skatana just observed him, adopting a stance as he reached for the hilt of his sword.

"I've been looking forward to this." He told Noah. "Do you really think you have what it takes?"

"Let's find out!" Noah replied, throwing his swords into the air, before grabbing his morpher. He morphed, turning into his Ranger mode, before catching the swords as they fell, adopting a guard. Noah and Skatana rushed into each other, their blades carving an intricate dance through the air.

As he watched from his vantage point up on the cliff, Dustin had a look around. Noah was doing well, indeed, he looked like he had a real shot of winning. All his obsessive training seemed to have paid off.

"Impressive! You've improved!" Skatana complimented him as he staggered away, a strike to his chest still smoking. "But there's one thing you can't defend against!"

Noah stood ready, preparing for the strike as he watched Skatana powering up his Infinity Blade Attack. His grip tightened on the handles of his swords as Skatana sent the first of the blades his way.

Just as he started to smash the blades out of the air though, Noah felt himself being grabbed from behind and held in place. Looking around, he saw a couple of Bruisers had sneaked up on him.

"What the...?"

"You came alone, and I came prepared!" Skatana laughed as he sent the remaining blades straight at Noah. They all struck him, knocking him to the ground. Noah looked up from the ground to see Skatana and the three Bruisers confronting him.

"How DARE you?" Noah yelled at him. "What honour is there in cheating?"

"The only true honour is in victory." Skatana answered.

"You...you talked so much...you kept saying you were the best! That you sought out warriors to prove you're the best!" Noah recalled.

"Yes, I do." Skatana answered. "But that doesn't mean I'm not pragmatic. I'm not going to risk losing a fight that could lead to my destruction out of some petty misplaced pride."

Noah felt his blood run cold as he said this. He'd run off on his own, pushed all his friends away, run off, leaving Emma sleeping so that he could face Skatana alone. He was so determined to salve his own pride, to prove that he was better than Skatana; he had ended up walking straight into an obvious ambush, one that he should never have been fooled by.

"There are two ways to become the best! To be the best, you defeat the best. If you cannot...then if you eliminate the competition!" He sneered as he approached Noah. "And now, time to finish you!"

Noah got picked up and held fast by the Bruisers as Skatana prepared to deliver the finishing blow. He struggled, but couldn't break their mechanical grip.

"You are good Blue Ranger; perhaps you could have even defeated me, that was too great a chance to take." Skatana told him. "Now for your final lesson. Never underestimate your opponent, and never believe he will fight fair."

Just then, several energy blasts struck him in the chest, sending him tumbling away. Noah looked around to see Emma running into view, holding her twin blasters, coming straight for him.

"If you can bring friends, then so can he!" Emma screamed. Gia, Jake and Troy all arrived a little way behind her as the area suddenly flooded with X-borgs. They started so smash their way through them, forming a perimeter around Noah as they hacked down the Bruisers holding him. Troy helped him up.

"You...you came." Noah wheezed as he tried to get his breath back. "You came to help..."

"We're a team Noah, that's what we do!" Jake reminded him.

"I guess Skatana knows more about team work than I do." Noah grumbled. "That's embarrassing!"

"Alright Noah, we'll keep the cheer squad off you." Troy told him. "You finish this one."

"Troy?" He asked.

"You started this, you can finish it." Troy answered. "But we finish it together!"

"We'll take care of the tin cans; you take care of big mouth!" Gia added.

"You can do it Noah, we all know you can!" Jake added. "Go for it dude!"

"Now it's back to you and me!" Skatana said as he got back to his feet.

"And this time it's a fair fight!" Noah called out as he rushed at him. The rest of the Rangers fought valiantly to keep the fight between Noah and Skatana a one-on-one affair. Up on the cliff, Dustin, Shane and Tori were watching.

"So, what do you think?" Tori asked.

"I think he learned his lesson." Dustin answered with a smile. "A one-on-one fight is one thing, but it only works if you have friends to make sure it stays that way."

He took the Ranger keys out of his pocket as he went to the edge of the cliff.

"Hey, Rangers!" He called out, causing Troy and the others to look up at him. He showed them the keys. "I believe you were looking for these!"

He threw the keys down, at which the Rangers caught them. Troy put the Blue Ninja Storm Key away as he prepared the Red Ninja Key in his morpher.

"Alright guys, let's show them we deserve these!" Troy yelled as he turned the key. "Ninja Storm!"

Up on the cliff, Tori Shane and Dustin continued to watch the fight unfold. Shane looked down at the battle as the team utilised their old powers, bringing the Ninja Ranger team to Blue Bay for the first time since their retirement. Shane just smiled.

"Hey, Dustin, check it out. Your counterpart's a girl." Shane teased him. Dustin just shrugged.

"Hey, I'm secure." Dustin told him. "Besides, she's kicking butt!"

"Is...is the Navy Ranger a girl?" Tori asked, seeing Emma battling with Blake's old powers. "So, my husband's counterpart is a girl, and since my key's the only one not being used...I'm a guy? That...that just seems weird."

"Well, it doesn't look like this is going to last too much longer." Dustin answered as they activated a Shadow Battle. Coming back to reality, the last of the robots sparked and fell to the ground in a heap of scrap metal.

Meanwhile, in his own battle, Noah was facing down Skatana's Infinity Blade Attack. The other Rangers watched him bat away the blades, before Skatana tried for the same lunge attack. Noah, remembering the training, saw it coming and brought up his own blade, splitting Skatana's sword in two, driving forward and hitting him straight in the face. Skatana backed off, screaming in pain and without his sword.

"Thank you." Noah stated as he watched Skatana fall to his knees, clearly injured.

"You're thanking me?" Skatana asked him.

"You showed me what I could have become if I let my pride get the better of me." Noah told him. "If I hadn't met you, I might one day have become you. For that, I'm going to offer you a chance to leave with your life."

Skatana roared in frustration hearing this. He knew that Prince Vekar didn't tolerate failure. If he returned to the ship, he would likely be executed in shame, or worse, banished and forced into exile to live with his disgrace.

"I am the greatest swordsman...!"

"Give it up!" Noah told him. "You're unarmed now! Destroying you wouldn't be fair! I know you don't care about things like that, but I don't want to be like you and destroy someone who isn't able to fight back! I don't care where you go or what you do with your life, as long as you take this lesson and remember what happened here any time you think about hurting anyone else!"

As he was about to walk away, Skatana got back to his feet. Seeing Noah with his back turned, he felt his rage coursing through him. No matter what happened, he would have to live with the shame of knowing a human had beaten him. He would have to go into hiding, to live the rest of his days fleeing Prince Vekar's spite and letting his failure eat him up. He strained his muscles, and activated the hidden attack in his armour.

"Infinite Octo Blade Attack!" He screamed, launching a seemingly endless storm of blades mounted onto steel tentacles at Noah. Far from just launching them straight, each tentacle moved as an independent limb, swinging the swords in practiced arcs that made them much more difficult to counter. Noah turned in time to start parrying them.

Up on the Armada Command Ship, Prince Vekar watched on in interest.

"I had no idea he was capable of such an attack!" Argus said, looking impressed. He had trained Skatana himself.

"He wasn't." Lavira told him. "Until I upgraded his armour, now he's invincible!"

"This should end the Blue Ranger once and for all!" Argus replied.

Back on the ground, Noah rolled to get clear of the initial onslaught as the other Rangers prepared to intervene.

"Stay back!" Noah called to them. "I need to concentrate on any movement! If you join the battle, I won't know which moves are yours and which are his!"

Skatana drove a couple of blades into the earth, which Noah could feel shifting beneath him. He saw debris fly past him and knew they'd come up behind him, surrounding him in a web of tentacle blades. He parried all he could but couldn't stop all of them. The blades sliced into him, forcing him to the ground.

"I win!" Skatana declared. Noah pulled himself back to his feet one last time. As Emma was about to join the battle, Troy held her back.

"Noah's got this one." He assured her. "Let him finish what he started."

He called over to Noah, who looked up.

"If he thinks more blades is the way to go, how about matching fire with fire?" Troy asked. He, Gia and Jake threw their swords to him, which all connected to the two in Noah's hands, giving him a three-bladed and five-bladed sword. Noah felt a small power boost as the others also lent him some of their power for the final push.

"This is it, your last chance!" Noah warned Skatana as he loaded the blue Mighty Morphin', Turbo, Ninja Storm, Mystic Force and Megaforce keys into the sabres. "Leave now, or die here and now!"

Skatana gave his answer by unleashing his Infinite Octo Blade Attack one more time. Noah's eyes narrowed as he prepared to receive the attack.

"Bad choice!" He called out as he started lashing out, smashing all the blades that came at him into scrap metal. He stared down Skatana as he now realised he was completely at Noah's mercy.

He could only watch as projections of the five previous Blue Rangers rushed towards him, each attacking him in turn, before Noah, his blades glowing with power spun through him, slicing through his armour with ease. Skatana stood for a second, feeling the last of his strength leave him as Noah completed his attack. He slumped forward one last time, before exploding in a huge fireball.

"You were good Skatana." Noah replied as he turned to look at the spot where he had fallen. "But no one is perfect."

"Nice job Noah." Dustin called out from the cliff, before he, Tori and Shane ninja-streaked down to greet them. "You finally learned your lesson."

"Wait...what lesson?" Troy asked. Just then, they saw an energy beam hit the ground where Skatana had fallen.

"Wouldn't you know it, even after eleven years they still make them bigger." Tori stated as they watched Skatana start to re-form and grow.

"In our day it was a scroll." Dustin added. "No matter how much the technology improves, they still go back to the same basic plans."

"I think we can keep the moral of the day lesson until after you deal with that." Shane answered, tapping Troy on the shoulder, before handing him a piece of paper. "Meet us at these co-ordinates when you're done."

With that, they ninja-streaked away.

"Alright, let's not keep them waiting." Troy answered, pulling out his morpher and calling up the Megazord.


	5. Noah's Apologies

The Rangers Megazord faced off against Skatana as he towered over Blue Bay Harbour. He drew his newly reformed sword as he adopted a stance.

"Alright Noah, you know this guys' moves better than any of us." Troy told him. "You take the lead."

Skatana, it seemed, hadn't lost any of his speed by growing. It was only Noah's knowledge of his attacks that kept the Rangers one step ahead. First blood was drawn by the alien as he finally found a gap in their guard, slicing across the abdomen as he rushed past.

"Keep it together Noah." Jake said encouragingly. "It's just one hit, we'll get it back."

Noah just nodded and concentrated as Skatana held the sword downwards, pointing behind him, the point just scraping the ground. He had seen this move before, and knew how it went. As he started to run forward, the blade dragged along the ground, until the last moment when he started to raise it. He was intending to use a powerful upward strike to knock the Megazord's guard away, before bringing the blade down on its exposed chest. Noah already had the counter though. Leaning in, he blocked the blade to the side, while driving the other sword into his chest. Skatana staggered away.

"You may have blocked that attack, but I would love to see you block THIS!" Skatana called out, powering up his Infinity Blade Strike. Noah got out his Ranger Key, at which the others did the same.

As Skatana sent the blades flying their way, the cannon burst forth from the Megazord's chest, and opened fire, smashing the blades into pieces. Skatana stood dumbfounded as he saw this.

"This is how you fight now?" He demanded. "You can't beat me with a sword..."

"I've already beaten you with a sword!" Noah reminded him. "This was just pragmatic! You know all about that right?"

Noah pulled out the Blue Ninja Storm Key, which started glowing in his hand. The others pulled out their Ninja Storm Keys in response. They all placed their keys into the locks, and turned them.

Before anyone knew what had happened, they saw a new Zord coming over the horizon. It was a small Zord, only about twice the size of a human, and it seemed like it was riding a flying shuriken as it arrived. It launched a few shuriken at Skatana, slicing into him painfully.

"I am Mini-Zord!" It announced. "Powers Combine!"

As the Mini-Zord connected to them, they found ports opening in the legs and arms of the Megazord, which housed Shuriken. Noah just smiled.

"I guess this is what you get when you cross ninjas with pirates." He stated, looking to Skatana. "Alright, let's see how you like the blade spam attack thing!"

"Ninja Storm, Shuriken Attack!" They called out in unison. The Megazord unleashed a hail of razor-sharp shuriken straight for Skatana. He started blocking them, knocking them out of the air, but soon enough the first of them sliced into his arm, causing him to recoil. Then one hit his ribs, then another his leg.

"It's not as much fun when you're on the receiving end is it?" Noah asked him. By now, Skatana had dropped his sword under the assault, and was being peppered mercilessly by the flying weapons. Eventually, the last one went straight through his chest, at which he pitched forward, exploding in a huge fireball.

"Noah, that was..."

"I couldn't have done any of this without you." Noah replied. "Now, we have an appointment to keep. Thanks Mini-Zord."

Up on The Armada Command Ship, Prince Vekar had seen the result of the battle, and was far from happy. Once again, his temper got the better of him, and he was throwing a tantrum, throwing around furniture and unfortunate X-borg crew members around with equal disregard for the results.

"You promised me!" He screamed at Argus. "You promised me that Skatana was your finest student!"

"He was my prince." Argus answered apologetically. "It has been some time since I have seen him in action. He must have become complacent..."

"Is this what I can expect from you Argus? EXCUSES?" Prince Vekar screamed, slamming his hands into Argus' breast plate to absolutely no effect. Argus' armour was strong, and he was more than used to such outbursts from his Prince.

"I can only apologise for his sub-standard performance." Argus replied. "I shall urgently review the standards of my..."

"See that you do!" Prince Vekar yelled. "And where did they get those new Ranger Keys from? Did anyone see Ninja Rangers?"

"Sire, with all due respect, they are ninja." Lavira reminded him. "If they do not wish to be found, then they won't be found."

"If I wanted excuses, I'd MAKE THEM UP MYSELF!" He screamed as he stormed away. "I need to rest! I cannot be around such incompetence!"

As the door slammed behind him, Damaras looked to Lavira.

"It was his idea." He reminded her. She just shook her head in response.

"Just keep an eye out for when the Rangers are on the move again." She answered. "It would be best not to disturb him until his mood passes."

Later, the Rangers were making their way through the woods in the mountains surrounding Blue Bay. Emma had her camera with her, taking the opportunity to take some good shots while they were heading to the rendezvous point.

"Alright, if my calculations are right, we should be right...here." Noah stated as they arrived in a clearing. There was a small lake, and a waterfall at one side, while trees surrounded them in all other directions. The Rangers all looked around.

"Are you sure?" Jake asked. "I don't see them."

"Jake, you were there for the whole all-night game of tag right?" Gia asked him sarcastically.

"They're ninjas." Troy agreed. "They could be anywhere."

"They're here." Noah said with a confident smile. "Alright, you got us, come on out!"

Just then, dozens of masked figures in black uniforms trimmed in yellow burst out of the ground around them. Still more, with red trim descended from the trees. As they turned towards the lake, they found more warriors, trimmed in blue, standing on the water like it was open ground.

"OK, now...that's impressive!" Gia commented.

"They had a whole army here and we didn't even know!" Jake gasped. They turned towards the waterfall as six people all headed out towards them. Shane, Tori and Dustin were at the fore, with three others they hadn't seen before now. Given the colour of their uniforms, they presumed they were the other three Ninja Rangers.

"That was pretty awesome!" Noah admitted. "I knew you'd be here, but I had no idea about...all of this!"

"We just wanted to give you a little demonstration." Dustin replied. "I'm sure you all have studies you should be attending to!"

Almost as quickly as they'd arrived, the students all disappeared. Within seconds, the whole area was deserted, not a blade of grass out of place. Troy just nodded in appreciation.

"They're good." He conceded.

"We try our best." Tori told him. "Oh, these are Blake, my husband, his brother Hunter, and Cam."

"Pleased to meet you." Troy greeted them in response.

"We saw the Megazord battle." Hunter told him. "I have to say, that move with the Mini-Zord was sick!"

"Yeah, I guess we know our powers are in good hands." Blake agreed.

"You'll always have friends in Blue Bay." Cam assured them. "Now, if you want to follow us, we've put on a little spread for you."

"Aw man, I am starving!" Jake called out. "What are we having?"

"Uh...well...none of us are much in the way of the cooking department." Dustin admitted. "Does anyone have any objection to the Colonel?"

"Dude, you have no idea how long it's been since I've had a good bucket of chicken!" Troy said with a smile. "So, lead the way!"

The Corsair Rangers watched as the ninjas headed across the lake, disappearing into the waterfall. They all looked at each other.

"Um...will that work for us?" Jake asked.

"I guess there's one way to find out." Troy answered as he started to head out onto the lake. Finding it solid underfoot to his surprise, he continued on his path, disappearing into the waterfall. The others followed on, finding themselves in the Ninja Command Centre when they got through the waterfall. Dustin and the other ninja rangers were waiting for them with the food sitting on the table waiting for them.

"It took you less time than it takes a lot of our students." Cam complimented them. "The illusion works pretty well."

"So, before we start with the food, did you learn your lesson?" Dustin asked, looking to Noah. He stepped forward, looking straight at Dustin.

"I let pride get in the way. I should never have let Skatana fool me into thinking that it would be a fair fight." Noah answered. "We're a team for a reason, we're stronger that way."

"And?" Dustin pressed on. Noah had to think for a moment about that.

"It's alright being good at something." Noah answered. "But there's no need to be a douchebag about it. Especially with my friends."

"I couldn't have said it better myself." Shane said with a smile as he looked to Dustin. "Another success for the Earth Guy!"

"I don't like to let it go to my head." Dustin said with a proud look on his face. He then looked back to Noah. "So, before we start, is there anything else you need to say?"

Noah just nodded and turned to the others.

"Guys, I'm sorry. I can see now, I've been pretty unbearable lately." Noah told them. "I've just...I've never been really good at anything like this before, so when I found something I was good at, and you all took notice, I guess...I guess I let the whole thing go to my head."

He then looked to Jake and Gia.

"And...I know things have been hard for the three of us." Noah continued. "We left our partners behind, so I know it sucks being away. What happened between me and Quinn was a huge thing for me, but...I guess thinking about it, going on about it the way I did wasn't the most sensitive thing I could do."

He then proceeded to look to Gia.

"Especially when I know you're having a rough time with what happened with Cat." He told her. "I guess I didn't think about how much that has to hurt. I'm sorry."

"Noah..."

"And to show how sorry I am...I'm reversing the result of our bet." Noah told her. "I'll get the next clue from Tensou, and I'll accept the...forfeit."

"The same forfeit we agreed on?" Gia asked. Noah just sighed and nodded.

"Two hours." He agreed.

"Then I guess you're forgiven." Gia replied. "But that doesn't mean we won't start busting that head of yours if it starts to get too big again!"

"Believe me, after meeting Skatana, I'm done with that." Noah assured them. "He was just...obsessed with being the best! He was so caught up in being thought of as better than everyone that in the end...all he cared about was winning! He didn't even care how he had to do it!"

"When you're the best there's only one way to go." Troy told him. "There's nothing wrong with working to be better, but if being the best is all that matters to you, then you'll never be happy. What shows real strength is to be able to be content with being good, and being happy about knowing that."

"Well, now the lessons are done, we have a little something for you guys." Dustin announced. With that, the Ninja Rangers all pulled out training uniforms, trimmed in their respective colours. "If you're going have the powers, you've got to have the gear!"

"This is amazing!" Troy stated as he accepted the red one from Shane.

"Nice!" Gia agreed as Dustin handed her a uniform.

"I'll try not to make my fellow blues look bad anymore." Noah promised Tori.

"You better not." Tori warned him in a friendly way.

"We never had a pink." Blake told Emma, handing over his uniform. "But I heard you looked pretty good in navy."

"OK, so you're Green, but you were wearing Crimson?" Hunter asked, looking to Jake. "So...do you want mine6 or Cam's?"

"He was originally Black." Gia sniggered. "Believe me; no one's more confused than him."

"So, I guess there's one spare." Cam said.

"Yeah, we're hoping to have a sixth at some point." Troy told him, accepting the green uniform. "Our sixth is kind of...indisposed right now."

"Yeah, but we're sure Jordan's going to be itching to come back." Jake answered.

"Alright, now all that's done, let's get started on some chicken!" Dustin called out. As they were all about to sit at the table, getting ready to start, Emma just stood, looking among all of them as they prepared to begin their party. As they were starting to portion out the food, she threw her Navy uniform on the floor, causing all of them to look around, before storming out of the room. Dustin just looked confused.

"What? Is she like, vegetarian or something?" Dustin asked.

"I think you forgot an apology." Tori said, looking to Noah. He just looked confused, but got up from the table and headed out to find Emma.

"Well, this is a party." Hunter sighed. "Anyone mind if I eat?"

"There's no point letting it go cold." Troy agreed. He had kind of an idea what might be bothering his girlfriend, but he knew there wasn't much he could do about it. This was something Noah had to do himself. "They'll be back."

With that, they started to dig in, while Shane started to pour them all some wine.

Elsewhere, on a distant world, rain lashed down as explosions tore through a city. Screams rang out through the streets as buildings burned. In the centre of the city, in a massive temple, sounds of battle could clearly be heard.

A warrior hit the ground hard and stopped moving. He had a large, purple-veined head, and a black uniform on. The Shadow Ranger stood over the unconscious opponent, looking out into the storm.

The last of the temple's warriors fought desperately with her massive opponent. Colo roared aggressively as he swung his cymbal for her. She tried to parry, but his incredible strength was so much that it felt like every bone in her arm was almost popped out of its socket with the impact, and her muscles felt like they had been torn like crepe paper. Rolling backwards to her feet, Delphine struggled to even hold onto her sword.

The former White Aquitarian Ranger could feel her strength leaving her. With the collapse of the Morphing Grid, and having lost her powers, she was forced to try and fight with only her own strength. While she was a strong fighter, as were all of her Rangers, they were no match for the forces brought against them. Her long, blonde hair was matted to her scalp, and she could feel the blood running down her face from her nose and her brow. She spat blood, trying to clear her airway in preparation for the next assault.

"You have fought admirably former Ranger!" Lafitte said as he stepped into view, flanked by some shadowy figures. "Your friends are already defeated! Your city is burning down around you! You know what you have to do to get us to leave!"

"I've still got plenty of fight left in me!" She snapped back. Lafitte just gave a small, derisive laugh.

"I highly doubt that." He told her. "You're struggling to hold that sword. It's taking all your strength just to stay on your feet. Why delay the inevitable?"

Delphine re-adjusted her grip on the sword as it slipped in her grip. She knew she was all but spent, but having seen Corcus fall a little way from her, she knew that now she was the only one left. It was down to her. Lafitte just extended a hand.

"It can all end right now." He told her. "Just hand them over!"

"NEVER!" She screamed as she ran for him. Lafitte just sighed.

"Have it your way." He responded as he lifted his pistol. As he fired, she blocked the first two blasts, but the third hit her straight in the chest, sending her straight to the ground, her sword clattering to the concrete a little way from her. Lafitte and his puppets closed in, surrounding her.

Delphine reached for her sword, but Lafitte stepped on her wrist, stopping her from getting to it. She glared up at him as he levelled his pistol at her head.

"You might finish me, but there are others!" Delphine snarled.

"Oh, I know." He replied. He kicked her hard, his toe connecting under her chin and knocking her out cold. He knelt down next to her, reaching into her robes and pulling out the five Aquitarian Ranger Keys. He smiled as he stood up, looking down on her.

"You should be grateful." He told her. "I was not paid to kill you, only to retrieve these."

As he started to head back to his ship, he opened up his communicator.

"I've got them." He announced. "Where do you want me to go next?"

Back in Blue Bay, Noah finally found Emma at the edge of a cliff, looking out into the night. He smiled as he realised he had found her.

"It took me a while to find you." He greeted her as he arrived. "I think you'd have made a pretty good ninja."

Emma didn't say anything. As he circled round in front of her, he looked to her.

"Emma, I know I was a jerk, but I'm sorry." He told her. "I know I shouldn't have gone in without the team..."

"I know, I've heard that already." She responded. Noah just looked to her, seeing she still wasn't happy.

"Then what is it?" He asked her. "Is it the fact I took your sword? I thought..."

"I was going to give it to you Noah." She interrupted him. "Just...leave me alone."

"Emma, I don't understand..."

"That's just it Noah, you DON'T understand!" Emma yelled as she got up.

"Emma, if I did something that upset you, please just tell me." Noah said.

"Do you remember what started all of this?" She asked him. "Do you remember what turned you into some chest-beating macho idiot?"

"Skatana insulted you." Noah answered. "He said..."

"Noah, do you really think that's the worst thing anyone's said to me?" Emma asked him. "I've grown up my whole life hearing 'flower girl' this or 'crusty' that. I've always been made fun of because people don't get the things that matter to me."

"And he..."

"I didn't CARE what he said Noah!" Emma told him bluntly. "It was just another bully who wanted to make me sink to his level by calling me names!"

"Emma..."

"He insulted me to sucker me into a fight I couldn't win, and you gave him exactly what he wanted by stepping in!" Emma told him. "I used to think you were smart Noah, but this...this was bullying 101! You should have seen right through that! You're better than that! Or so I thought!"

"Emma, I already know..."

"And what's worse, you pushed me back. You stepped in for me." Emma told him. "You gave him exactly what he wanted, and you did it in my name over an insult I didn't even care about!"

"Well I did care." Noah told her. "He had no right..."

"Do you think I couldn't have rushed in and fought him? Do you think I wouldn't have if I'd thought it was worth it?" Emma asked him. "Noah, I saw it for what it was. He was trying to play us."

"Emma, I don't understand." He told her.

"By pushing me back, by thinking that I needed you to stand up for me, to fight my battles for me, you basically said you thought he was right! You said that I was a puny girl that needed someone else to fight my battles for me." She explained. Noah just gulped as he heard this. He could see the look in her eyes and knew that this had upset her.

"Emma, I..."

"He was a monster that wanted to kill us Noah; I don't care what he thought about me." She told him. "But I do care what you think about me. I thought you respected me. I guess I was wrong."

With that, she started to walk away, leaving Noah to think about what she had said. He never meant it that way, but if he thought about it, he could understand from her point of view what the whole thing had meant to her. They said that actions spoke louder than words, and for Emma, it was clear what Noah's actions had said. He slumped back against a tree thinking that this was pretty much the last thing he had ever wanted to happen. This was something he wasn't sure he could fix.


	6. Island in the Sky

The rest of the night went by quickly for all the Rangers, except for Noah. After following her as she returned to Ninja Ops, he could still feel the somewhat frosty air between them. Jake had been his best friend since Kindergarten, but with the exception of him, Emma was the one that had done the most to embrace the new team. She had taken the fact they needed to work together as a team and done the most to encourage them all to hang out between missions and embrace each other as people in their own right. Noah had to admit that he admired her greatly, it was one of the reasons she had been his first crush. The one thing he would never want to do was hurt her, but seeing how she had reacted, he could tell that she had taken what had happened to heart.

She sat with Troy and Gia for the rest of the night as the Ninjas put on a demonstration for the benefit of their guests. As he sat, watching her, he couldn't help feeling deflated that she didn't want to include him. When he had rushed to her defence, he had thought he was doing a good thing for the team, but Emma had seen it differently. She had taken it as a sign that he didn't respect her, and that he thought she was too weak to stand up for herself. It wasn't true, but he couldn't blame her for seeing it that way. Actions, they say, spoke louder than words, and Noah's actions had shown that he believed she needed someone else to fight her battles for her. As the night wore on, she didn't even look at him, and he knew he had to have hurt her feelings deeply. He couldn't help feeling deflated as he started to wonder if there was any way he could earn her forgiveness.

"Well, thanks for the party guys." Troy announced as he got to his feet. "And the demonstration was pretty cool."

"Yeah, especially some of those gnarly ninja powers!" Jake said with a smile. "Any chance you could teach us some of them?"

"Do you have a spare couple of years?" Dustin asked in response. Jake just shook his head.

"I'm afraid we have more ranger keys to find." He replied.

"Still, the waterfall's always open." Blake told them.

"Yeah, don't forget you have friends in Blue Bay." Hunter told him. Just then, Tensou flew into the room, buzzing around the Rangers at Troy's call.

"Thanks, it's always good to know we have somewhere to go if things get tough." Troy answered. He pointed to a shinai in the corner. "Can we borrow that for a second?"

"Sure thing." Cam answered, looking a little confused. As he took it, he handed the shinai to Noah.

"I believe you're doing the honours this time." He replied. Noah just groaned.

"Alright Tensou, I'm sorry about this." Noah stated. The ninjas just watched in amazement as Noah raised the shinai above his head and brought it down hard over Tensou's head.

"DUDE!" Shane called out.

"What the hell?" Tori responded. "I felt like kicking Cyber Cam's butt a few times back in the day but seriously..."

"It's the only way we've found to get his tracking software to work!" Noah protested. "It's not like we like having to..."

"Hear the Lion's roar, and seek his home, the island in the sky,  
Convince him of your heart, where his allegiance should lie.  
You will find the hidden land for the Earth's sake,  
Above the city of the Turtle's Lake."

He shook his head clear and glared at Noah.

"I know, I know, I'll go get the costume." Noah sighed, leaving Ninja Ops.

"OK, I have a feeling there's a story behind that." Tori stated.

"It's kind of a long one." Troy assured her as the rest of the Corsair Rangers gathered up their belongings. "We should get going. I have a feeling we have a long way to go."

A little later, back on the Red Galleon, the Rangers and Jordan's projection were gathered around to figure out the latest poem. Noah, as he had promised had once again gotten dressed in the Mr Brainfreeze mascot costume. The Rangers had promised Tensou that until they found a way to activate his tracking software without smashing him over the head, then whichever one of the Rangers had hit him would punish themselves by having to wear the humiliating costume.

"Alright, what is it with lions?" Jake asked. "First we have to find a lion in Blue Bay, now we have to find a Lion in another city and convince him to be an ally?"

"There were a few Rangers themed after Lions." Troy commented. "But the island in the sky...wasn't that..."

"The Animarium!" Jordan rushed out in excitement. "I was six when they were active, they were the first team whose comics I read...I pretty much learned to read following their comics!"

"Yeah, I remember seeing something about that in the archive!" Noah recalled. "The Animarium was an island that floated in the sky! It was brought briefly to Earth by Master Org, but after he was defeated, it rose back into the sky! No one's seen it since!"

"The Lion's allegiance...you don't suppose...you don't think it's the Red Lion ZORD we're looking for do you?" Jake asked. "Well, at least it shouldn't be too hard to find. How exactly does a 100+ foot Zord hide on an island?"

"How exactly does a ninja academy with hundreds of students hide in a mountain range?" Emma asked him response. "Animals are pretty good at staying out of sight if they want to. I'm sure the Wild Zords are no different."

"Well, we know where to start at least." Troy said as he turned to Tensou. "Tensou, set a course for Turtle Cove. The rest of us will get some rest. If the Animarium's been in the sky all this time without being found, I have a feeling the search isn't going to be easy."

On The Armada Command Ship, Lavira was making her way through the ship from her lab when she overheard Damaras in his chambers. It sounded a lot like he was talking to himself; there was no other voice in the room. As she got closer though, she noted that from the sounds of it, it was only half of a conversation. It was like he was speaking to someone else that she couldn't hear. As she got into the doorway, she saw that he was holding a communicator.

"Proceed as we discussed." Damaras stated. "But don't engage them until we order you otherwise General Palooza. We don't want a repeat of the situation in Blue Bay. I want to know where they're going, and what they're looking for."

As he put away his communicator, he turned to see Lavira standing in the doorway.

"You know making plans without Prince Vekar's knowledge could be seen as treason." She said as she made her way inside.

"You know it's rude to eavesdrop." Damaras told her. "Besides, when one does eavesdrop, they are prone to only hearing part of the story. General Palooza is one of my intelligence agents. He is something of a bloodhound when it comes to finding..."

"I remember Palooza." She interrupted him. "He was only a lieutenant when I last encountered him. I suppose his rapid rise is down to your generous promotions."

"He has earned the position I assure you." He responded confidently. "I have sent him to keep track of the Rangers. I am sure by now even you have figured out that they are a step ahead of us in this search for power. If we can keep a tail on them, perhaps we can find ourselves able to do something other than merely respond to their actions."

"You still..."

"There is no need to bother Prince Vekar with this information right now." He interrupted her. "I have merely sent a spy on an intelligence gathering mission. I am sure you agree he doesn't need to be bothered any time one of our agents goes on a minor mission. I will inform the Prince before we make any major moves."

"See that you do." She answered. "I wouldn't like to see what he did to you if he believed your actions to be treasonous."

"Believe me; if all goes well, I fully believe that I will be rewarded handsomely." He told her. "Perhaps I will even allow you to share in the rewards."

"How generous." She answered. "I'll keep your little secret for now. I like to see if a ship is sinking before I decide if I want to jump on board."

With that, she walked away, leaving Damaras alone in his chambers. He just turned his attention back to his work. He had no doubt that Lavira would keep her word to keep his secret for now. He had every confidence that she would want to latch onto the scheme if it looked like it was going well, and to distance herself by pretending to have no knowledge of it if it looked like it was going to fail. It was exactly what he would do.

As the sun rose over Turtle Cove, the Red Galleon was nearing its destination. The Rangers all made their way out onto the deck, looking out over the city. They could all see the turtle-shaped lake in the dead centre of the city. Jordan's projection appeared on the very bow of the ship, standing on the tip. He was beaming brightly as he looked out.

"Turtle Cove!" He announced. "I know I'm a major Ranger geek, but I always wanted to come to Turtle Cove." He told the others. "The Wild Force were one of the first teams I really followed. The General spent a ton on all the action figures and comics for me. Over time, when he realised it wasn't just a phase he tried to encourage me to think about other stuff, but the Wild Force was always one of my favourites."

"Well, we can geek out all you want later." Troy assured him. "In the meantime, we need to find the Animarium."

"Well, Turtle Lake was formed when The Animarium lifted out of the ground." Jordan told them. "So let's start above there."

The others just looked at him, a little surprised to hear him say this. He just sighed.

"I told you, they were one of my favourite teams!" He answered. "The Animarium is a turtle-shaped island that was lifted out of the ground...the hole that left ended up becoming Turtle Lake."

"So we're looking for a floating island directly above Turtle Lake." Noah answered. "That should be easy to find...considering the fact no one else has been able to find it."

"I'll bring the ship up higher." Troy told them, handing a pair of binoculars to Gia and a telescope to Jake. "Keep an eye out. The sooner we find this island, the sooner we find the Red Lion Zord."

On his ship nearby, General Palooza was keeping a close track of the Red Galleon. He watched as it started to climb into the sky, breaking through the clouds. He opened up a communications link to Damaras.

"Sir, you asked me to report anything unusual." General Palooza told him. "The Rangers have arrived in Turtle Cove, and they're ascending into the clouds."

"That seems...odd." He agreed. "Continue to observe them. If they are searching for something in your area, we may have to move quickly. Do not engage them until you hear from us."

"As you wish sir." He replied, putting his communicator away. "Well, follow them!"

The X-borg crew complied with his request, keeping a safe distance from the Red Galleon.

Up on the Red Galleon, the Rangers continued their search. It turned out that looking for an island in the sky was a lot harder than it sounded. After a couple of hours, they felt like they had been flying around in circles all day.

Emma had gone up to the Crow's Nest with her camera, using the zoom lens to get a better look. Noah meanwhile had gone up with her, using his tablet to track any disturbances in air flow and cloud movements, hoping that they would somehow find a landmark of sorts they could use as a reference point. Jake and Gia were down on the deck, meaning that Noah and Emma were up there alone, somewhat of an awkward situation for Noah to be in.

"It's pretty peaceful up here isn't it?" Noah asked, trying to break the awkward silence. "There aren't even any birds up this high."

Emma just gave a kind of non-committal grunt in response. Noah just sighed as he looked at her.

"Look, Emma can we talk about this?" Noah asked her. She just turned to look at him. "Look, I'm sorry alright? I never said I don't respect you."

"Noah, it isn't about what you said." Emma reminded him. "I've put up with chauvinism before. When I went to the BMX track, don't you think the guys had something to say about a girl whose favourite colour was pink?"

"Emma, I'm not like them." He told her.

"No, you're not." She agreed. "At least they're honest about what they are. But guys like you...you're the worst kind of chauvinist. You pride yourself on saying all the right things and stuff like that, but when it comes down to it...instead of taking on Skatana with me, as a team, you thought you needed to do it by yourself. You thought that I couldn't deal with it."

"Emma, that's...that's not it at all." Noah protested. She just glared at him.

"Alright, gun to your head, who do you think makes a better Ranger? A guy or a girl?" She asked him. Noah was about to answer when he saw something.

"Check out that cloud." He stated.

"A cloud?" She asked him sceptically. "You really couldn't think of a better way to avoid the question..."

"No, seriously look at that cloud!" He told her, grabbing Emma and turning her to see it. She squinted as she saw it. It looked vaguely turtle-shaped.

"That cloud...it looks familiar." She agreed. "Haven't we passed it before?"

"We have." Noah confirmed, checking his tablet. "In fact...that cloud hasn't changed shape in hours."

"But clouds never hold their shape for that long." She told him. "Not naturally anyway."

She pulled out her communicator.

"Troy, we think we've seen something." Emma told him. "There's a huge cloud hard to port. It's not moved or changed shape since we arrived."

"You think it's hiding the island?" Troy asked her. "Alright everyone, hang on!"

Troy spun the wheel, throwing the ship hart to port. As they did this, Emma stumbled, ending up in Noah's arms. She just looked up, staring at him for a moment as he held onto her.

"Um..." He stammered out, before letting her go, backing off a little way. "I guess we should have held on."

"Hey, check it out!" Jordan yelled as he stood up on the prow, pointing outwards. As they made their way through the cloud, eventually they saw the island coming into view. It was an awe-inspiring sight. It looked a lot like a turtle, rimmed with cliffs, creating a natural basin that housed a lush, green forest. Near the centre of it was the only man-made structure on the island, a large temple made from yellow sandstone.

"Wow, that's...that's incredible!" Noah commented. "We've actually found it!"

Meanwhile, up on The Armada Command Ship, Lavira and Damaras were watching the screen as a report came in from General Palooza.

"Interesting." Lavira said as she saw the image of the Animarium appearing on her screen. "An entire rainforest hidden in the clouds."

"The Power Rangers are up to something. I knew it was wise to track their ship." Damaras stated as Prince Vekar came onto the bridge. He saw the image on the screen.

"What is this?" He asked. "What is going on here?"

"Your Highness, one of my spies General Palooza has been keeping track of the Rangers." Damaras told him. "They have come in search of this floating island."

"An island that flies?" Prince Vekar asked. "How is this possible?"

"I don't know, there are powerful energy signatures coming from the island." Damaras told him. "We think they may be here in search of more Ranger Keys."

"Then do something to stop them!" Prince Vekar yelled. "Tell General Palooza to attack!"

"Right away Your Highness." Damaras replied, opening the channel. "General Palooza, Prince Vekar has ordered you to attack the Rangers. Bring down their ship, then find what they're searching for and bring it here. Do this and there could be a promotion in it for you."

"It will be done." General Palooza assured him. He gestured to his crew. "Well, you heard him, open fire!"

Back on the Red Galleon, the Rangers were approaching The Animarium, looking for a place to land. One of the problems with the island being so densely wooded was that it made it difficult to find somewhere to bring the ship down safely.

"I'm sorry guys; I can't find anywhere to bring it down." Troy told them. "The four of you will have to go to the surface. I'll catch up when I've secured the ship."

As they were about to use the grappling lines, Emma suddenly looked up.

"Do you guys hear something?" She asked. "It sounds like something big is coming!"

Just then, General Palooza's ship burst through the cloud, flying past opening fire on them. The Rangers dived for cover as shots slammed into the deck.

Morphing as they prepared for action, Troy brought the ship around to return fire.

"Where the hell did they come from?" Jake yelled.

"I don't care where they came from; we can't let them find the Red Lion." Gia reminded them as she started firing at the ship with her blaster. As the Rangers all joined in the volley, they fell to their knees following an ear-splitting screech.

"Um...what was that?" Noah asked.

"I think that might have something to do with it!" Noah called out as he pointed into the sky. The Yellow Eagle Zord and the Falcon Zord were coming in fast. They both fired energy blasts, hitting both ships.

"Whoa, what gives?" Jake complained. "We're on your side!"

"I don't think they see it that way!" Gia answered. "Here they come again!"

As they flew past again, they lashed out with their talons, slicing through General Palooza's ship, and also severely damaging the Red Galleon.

"Hang on tight guys, we're going down!" Troy warned them. The Rangers all held on tightly as the damaged ship started came down quickly, smoke billowing from its damaged engines as they streaked through the sky towards the forest below.


	7. A Lion's Alliance

On the Animarium, the Rangers were standing around, observing the wreckage of their Red Galleon. The assault from General Palooza's ship had only done some minor cosmetic damage, but unfortunately that wasn't the only attack they had weathered. As Noah took a close look at the left engine, he sighed.

"Well, I can repair it." Noah sighed. "But it'll take a while, not to mention I'll need to get some spare parts. The Falcon Zord almost tore it completely off the ship."

"The Armada Ship went down a couple of miles from here." Troy told them. "Will you be able to get what you need from that?"

"I don't know if it'll be compatible for a long-term repair, but I should be able to make something that'll get us off the island presuming the ship wasn't smashed up too much." Noah told them. Troy just nodded in response.

"I guess the only good thing is we've confirmed that there are Wild Zords still living here." Gia replied.

"It's just a shame they don't seem too fond of strangers." Jake added. "I feel about as welcome as a fart in a space suit."

"We did come into their territory." Emma reminded him. "It's not like we were invited or anything, and then we started shooting up the place with the Armada. They probably think we're a threat."

"Well, we need to find that Lion Zord." Troy announced.

"I'll stay with the ship." Noah said, looking at the damage. "I can get started..."

"Noah, if the Wild Zords come back before we convince them we're the good guys, I doubt we'll have time to do those repairs." Troy reminded him. "Can the ship morph at least?"

"The Zord Bay doors don't seem to be damaged." Noah said, stroking his chin. "I can't see why not."

"Then at least we have a plan B if we can't convince the Wild Zords the friendly way." Troy replied. "I'll activate the security protocols, and then I'll head out for The Armada Ship and see what I can scavenge. The rest of you start looking for that Lion Zord."

"Great, give us the plumb job." Jake chuckled as they headed out to begin their search. "We saw what the birds did to our ship, and we're just going to go looking for a Lion. Yeah, that should end well."

Over on General Palooza's ship, he was wandering among the wreckage. He grabbed an X-borg which was missing its head and most of its body after a support strut smashed straight though it.

"Damage report!" He barked, looking to one of the remaining droids.

"Hull integrity down to 32 percent." The droid answered, beginning the assessment. "Engines damaged, orbital life support system destroyed, weapons off-line. Total repair time estimated at 936 hours provided suitable components can be sourced."

"Somehow I don't think there's much in the way of technology on this rock." General Palooza responded. "The crew?"

"13 percent of X-borg crew and 9 percent of bruisers currently off-line." The Droid answered, before scanning General Palooza. "Ranking officer exhibits only minor injuries."

"Call Damaras to arrange a pick-up." General Palooza told it. "While we're waiting, we have a mission to complete."

Out in the jungle, Noah, Emma, Gia and Jake were heading through the undergrowth in their search for the Lion Zord. Although they knew that the other Wild Zords were on the Animarium, so far they hadn't found any of them.

"This place is incredible." Gia said as she looked around. "I mean, at this height, we should all be freezing our butts off. I guess this place really is magical."

"It's not just the climate." Emma told her, gesturing to some plants. "You see those bushes? Some of those species have been extinct on Earth for hundreds of years. And over there..."

"The Magnus Bloomus Annulus!" Noah gasped. "But...it only blooms once a year, and that day's passed!"

"I don't think any of the usual rules apply here." Jake stated. "Where are these damned Zords! One minute they're trying to kill us, the next; we can't see a sign or them!"

"There are signs." Emma told him. "We're heading the right way."

"Are you sure?" Jake asked. "I mean, it is a pretty big island!"

"It looks like the Red Lion's somewhere near the temple." She announced, inspecting the ground. "It came this way very recently."

"Are you sure about that?" Jake asked her.

"Pretty sure!" She assured him, pointing down. Noah started to look down at the ground where she was standing. It took him a moment, he was just seeing some dents in the soft ground, but after a while, he started to piece together the unique shapes, and their positioning.

"Uh...Jake...I'd say Emma's right." Noah told him. "We're...um...we're standing in its footprint!"

Jake and Gia both looked around, before recoiling in shock.

"That is one BIG cat!" Jake stated. Just then, Emma's head snapped up. She heard a rustling in some nearby trees.

"Guys, we're not alone." She told them.

"The Zords?" Jake asked her.

"Something a lot smaller." She told them. Emma had spent a lot of time tracking in the woods in her time. A lot of animals weren't especially fond of humans, and tended to give any humans they came across a wide berth. It was difficult to track animals, and even more difficult to get close, but as a keen nature photographer, Emma had spent most of her life learning how to get close to animals. A moment later, a swarm of X-borgs broke through the tree line, heading straight for them.

"Great, that's just what we need!" Gia complained as they morphed, ready for action. "I'm sure another battle's really going to convince the Lion Zord we're friends!"

Elsewhere on the island, Troy found himself coming across General Palooza's abandoned ship. He started to make his way towards it, morphing as he went; prepared in case some of the crew had remained behind to effect repairs. As he started to get closer though, he could find no sign of them. As he took a look at the ship, he could see that it was a lot more seriously damaged than the Red Galleon had been. He made sure to do a complete sweep of the area, but after a while, he put his weapons away. It seemed that General Palooza had abandoned the ship. It wasn't much of a surprise really; The Armada had plenty of ships. It wasn't as though he couldn't arrange for another to pick him up when they had completed their mission.

Troy went to the ship, and started to look around. As he rummaged around, he found that a lot of the damage was to the structure. A surprising number of the electrical systems still seemed to work. He pulled out Noah's list and started to look around for components to salvage. Just then, he heard something outside.

Snatching up his weapons, he headed outside, just in time to see some shrubbery moving, like it had only recently been disturbed. Realising that someone else was here, he ran into the forest. By the looks of things, General Palooza had no interest in returning to his ship. The salvage operation could wait. For now, he needed to pursue any lead he had on the Wild Zords.

Back at the site of the battle, Emma finished off the last of her opponents. They looked around to make sure that there were no more, before putting away their weapons.

"Who wants to bet we're not lucky enough that's everyone?" Jake asked.

"There weren't even any bruisers with this group." Gia agreed. "We need to keep moving. They probably split up into search parties."

"Then we need to move quickly." Emma answered, gesturing up towards the temple. "It looks like the Red Lion Zord was heading out there."

It wasn't long before Emma, Gia, Jake and Noah arrived at the temple. Making their way towards the building, Jake threw his hands up.

"Well, somehow I don't think the Red Lion lives here!" He announced. "It looks a little cramped for him."

"He came this way!" Emma assured him. "If he's not here, then he's nearby!"

"Why would he come here?" Gia asked. "What would he want at the temple?"

"Are you sure...?"

"If Emma says the Lion Zord's here, then he's here." Noah interrupted Jake. Emma just looked at him. He knew she didn't need him to defend her, but from what he had seen on this mission, the way she had taken the lead, he had seen exactly what she had been saying. She really didn't need anyone to defend her. "He might not have made his move yet, but Emma knows more about this kind of thing than all of us combined. If she says the Red Lion is here, I believe her without question."

Troy ran into view a moment later, skidding to a halt as he got there.

"Troy?" Gia asked. "What are you doing here?"

"There's someone else on the island!" He told them.

"Yeah, we kind of got that..."

"No, I mean...someone was watching me at the Armada Ship." Troy told them. "I followed him here..."

"Wait, so someone led you here, and we followed the Red Lion..." Gia started to say, before bringing out her sword. "Who wants to bet this isn't a coincidence."

"We've not been tailing the Red Lion, he led us here!" Jake called out, preparing his blaster. "Someone's messing with us!"

"Power Rangers! Thanks for leading us right to this secret island!" General Palooza called out as he arrived with his retinue.

"Yeah, that wasn't really planned." Jake answered.

"It must contain something really powerful, something in that temple perhaps." He continued, ignoring Jake's comment. "We're going have it!"

"Yeah, good luck with that!" Troy answered as they all brought out their weapons. "Come on guys, if the Red Lion wants to see what we're about, then let's give him a show."

As the two sides rushed towards each other, no one noticed a man in red sitting at the top of the temple.

The Rangers fought bravely against the massive force, doing what they could to keep them from causing too much damage to the temple. They didn't know why, but the temple was obviously important to the Lion Zord. As they fought though, eventually they found themselves surrounded.

"Give it up Rangers! You have no chance against an army our size!" He announced proudly.

"You obviously didn't get the memo, we never give up!" Troy called back. "As long as at least one of us is alive, we'll always keep fighting!"

"Foolish humans! When I'm through with you, I'm going to find the power you're looking for, even if I have to tear apart this temple, and this whole forest one piece at a time!"

"You'll NEVER destroy this forest!" Emma yelled back. "We'll never let you!"

General Palooza raised a hand, at which the droids prepared to open fire. A massive roar thundered through the forest, causing everyone to fall to their knees.

"OK, that...that could be a problem." Gia stammered.

Just then, they all looked up as something blocked out the sun. The ground shook as the massive form of the Red Lion Zord landed on the temple grounds. It let out another huge roar, before with a huge swipe of its massive claws, it smashed all of them to the ground. The Rangers de-morphed, laying on the ground.

"I'm guessing we haven't exactly got him convinced." Jake groaned.

"At least the bad guys got the worst of it." Troy replied, pointing to the wreckage of the droid army. General Palooza was the only one left, and by the looks of things, he was struggling to get back up.

"No wonder the Red Lion's angry, look at the mess we're making of his home!" Emma called out, starting to get up. She morphed as she ran towards him, before calling up the Silver RPM Key. Changing, she activated the flight mode on her Cloud Hatchet and flew straight at him, tackling him over the edge of the island.

"Emma!" Troy called out as they flew out of sight, over the edge of the island.

"She...she took him off the island!" Noah stammered out.

"That's a pretty gutsy move your friend made." They heard someone say. As they all looked up, they watched a man in red clothing swing down on a vine from the top of the temple. He landed next to them, giving them a bright smile. Noah looked completely confused.

"Mr Evans?" He asked, recognising him. Noah had briefly worked at a Wildlife Park in Harwood. Mr Evans had been the head curator at the time.

"Please, you don't work for me anymore, you can call me Cole." He answered as five others arrived.

"Guys, we'll have to pick this up later!" Gia told them. "Emma needs our help!"

"There's just one slight problem." Noah reminded them. "We're thousands of feet in the air, and our ship isn't exactly in working condition! How do we get down?"

"I think I can arrange a ride." Cole answered as the Falcon Zord came into view, landing beside them.

"Sweet!" Jake replied with a smile. The Red Lion let out another massive roar.

"OK, OK, we're leaving!" Gia grumbled. "We got the message!"

"Actually, that was a good roar." Cole answered. "He wants me to tell you that he appreciates you taking the fight off his doorstep."

"Yeah, we didn't mean to make such a mess." Gia told him. "We'll...we'll clean up when we get back."

"I believe you." Cole answered as a light flew from the Red Lion's mouth. It flew into Cole's hand, at which he opened it, showing them five glowing Ranger Keys. "And I'd say it looks like Red Lion does too!"

Down on the ground, Emma fought desperately against General Palooza. After taking him off the island, she had found herself on her own, fighting for all she was worth. She was smashed into the side of a building, and slid down slowly as her strength started to leave her.

"You humans are so foolish and sentimental aren't you?" He asked. "You dared to take me on all by yourself and for what?"

"For The Animarium!" She answered. "I can't, I won't let you destroy it!"

"What makes you think you'll have a choice?" He asked her. "Once I'm finished with you, I'll just call up Damaras for reinforcements. We'll send a dozen ships to the Animarium! We'll tear up every last blade of grass looking for that power!"

"You'll never have it!" Emma told him. "The Red Lion, he is the power! He's the King of the Wild Zords! You'll never get him to fight for you!"

"Then I'll destroy every last living thing on that island!" General Palooza replied. "If I can't have that power, then no one else will!"

Just as he was about to finish her off, he was sent flying by a series of blasts slamming right into his chest. The Falcon Zord landed a little way off, and the other Rangers disembarked. They ran to Emma's side.

"Are you alright?" Gia asked her.

"I'll be fine." She assured them. "Once I deal with this creep, The Animarium will be safe!"

"Well, the Red Lion gave us a little gift that might help with that." Noah told her, showing her the Ranger keys. She smiled as she saw them. "When you took the fight off his doorstep, you changed his mind about us."

"Then let's show him he didn't make a mistake!" Emma answered as they placed their Ranger Keys into their morphers. "Legendary Mode, Wild Force!"

Up on the Animarium, Cole was watching the action in the Sacred Fountain. His old team mates arrived, and were gathered round, watching the action as well.

"So this is the new team?" Max asked. "They look pretty good in our old outfits."

"Speak for yourself!" Taylor complained. "Check out Yellow!"

"What?" Danny asked her. "What's wrong...?"

"She has a skirt!" Taylor interrupted him grumpily, pointing out the detail. The others all looked closely, and saw that she was right. "My old outfit didn't have a skirt!"

"So?" Merrick asked her, shrugging his shoulders. Taylor just crossed her arms defiantly.

"Everyone knows who their Yellow Ranger is; they know she's a girl!" Taylor replied. "Now everyone's going to think I was a guy!"

"Well, to be fair you were kind of butch." Max sniggered at her expense. Taylor just gave him an icy death glare, at which he started running for all he was worth as the others laughed.

Back on the ground, General Palooza got shakily to his feet as the team all assembled before him, brandishing their weapons. He could only watch as they started to assemble them.

"General, your mission is over!" Emma told him.

"Jungle Sword, Savage Slash!" The team called out together, bringing the sword down, slicing through. General Palooza fell to the ground and exploded in a huge fireball as the team powered down to Corsair Mode.

Up on The Armada Command Ship, Damaras had seen the last moments of the battle, and had seen him fall. Prince Vekar was already starting to rant and rave.

"Your Highness, this isn't over!" He told him, grabbing Lavira's maximiser. "General Palooza has served me well; I believe he will succeed with a little more power!"

Back on the ground, the Rangers watched as the beam hit the ground where General Palooza had fallen. Jake just shook his head.

"Does the phrase 'rest in peace' mean nothing to these guys?" He asked.

"I guess we should have seen that coming!" Troy replied.

"OK, is anyone else seeing a problem here?" Noah asked. "The Sky Ship's still on The Animarium, and last time I checked, it wasn't going anywhere any time soon!"

Just then, they heard a massive roar.

"Now that...that is just AWESOME!" Jake yelled as he pointed upwards. "Check it out guys!"

They all looked up to see the Red Lion Zord running down from the sky along a pathway of pure light. As he got closer though, they could see that their own Megazord was connected to it, like it was riding on the Red Lion's back.

"OK, I never thought I'd see a pirate riding a lion!" Troy answered with a smile. They all watched on as in a single attack, the Lion roared, launching an energy attack through its mouth, while their own Zord's blades powered up. General Palooza was hit with the combined power of all three energy blasts, and exploded. The Rangers all let out a whoop of delight as they saw this. The Red Lion skidded to a halt by them, and reared up, roaring in triumph. The Rangers now had a powerful new ally, and the Armada had been sent a powerful message. Now, it wasn't just the PEOPLE of Earth that were fighting back! Now, they had to face the Earth itself!


	8. Leaving Paradise

The Corsair Rangers rode the Red Lion Megazord configuration back to the Animarium, finding Cole waiting for them, along with five others they hadn't seen before. Considering the fact that The Animarium was still hidden, they presumed that anyone else that got there had to be someone that was strongly connected to it, namely the Wild Force Rangers.

As the Zords landed, they converted back into the Red Galleon as the Red Lion headed back into the undergrowth. The Corsair Rangers disembarked, stepping out onto the temple grounds as the Wild Force Rangers approached them.

"Hey, thanks for the support!" Troy called out as they came together, meeting each other with hearty handshakes. "Before the Red Lion showed up..."

"Hey, the Red Lion goes where he wants to go." Cole assured them with a smile. "He rarely trusts humans, but when he does, he's a really good ally to have."

"I'll say." Jake agreed as he looked to the former Ranger team. "He really kicked some major butt."

"So did you guys." Alyssa replied, looking impressed. "And if I do say so myself, you looked pretty good in our old suits."

Taylor just snorted as she said this, her arms crossed defiantly over her chest. The Corsair Rangers just looked among themselves.

"Uh...is she pissed about something?" Gia asked.

"It's a long story." Merrick assured them as he gestured them into the temple. "Anyway, come on in, Alyssa's been cooking up a storm and we don't want it to get cold."

"Now that is exactly what I wanted to hear!" Jake replied, rubbing his stomach as it gave out a growl that rivalled the Red Lion's. The Corsair Rangers all followed their predecessors into the temple.

Up on The Armada Command Ship, Prince Vekar was in his quarters, having abandoned the Bridge during the battle. His petulant temper had gotten the better of him as once again his generals had proven their ineptitude. Damaras had given him his assurances that his spy would bring him results, but when it came time to deliver, he had fallen short once again.

He still didn't have the numbers in his fleet to launch another sledgehammer operation. He didn't have the means to go all out and just overwhelm the Rangers. What was worse, he had only just gotten word from his agents near Aquitar that Lafitte had turned up again and launched a full-on offensive on their planet, in spite of the fleets in that sector. Lafitte had been a thorn in his side for years, and had plundered his worlds and his ships many times over the years, but he had always done so in hit-and-run attacks. For him to be making such a direct, brazen attack, he knew that he had to be searching for something of real value.

As he sat in his quarters, lounging on a large, plush couch, surrounded by big, soft pillows, he took a sip of wine from a crystal glass that had been a tribute to him from a planet he had conquered many years ago. Checking a computer screen, he was trying to figure out how exactly the Rangers kept finding new keys and gaining new powers just as they needed them. He was aware that there had been other Ranger teams, and his spies' research into Earth's history had informed him that most of them centred on a few select cities, most of the teams had kept their identities secret. Only four teams out of the seventeen that had been seen on Earth had ever revealed their identities to the world at large, and out of those four, only the Lightspeed Rangers were still under observation. The others had disappeared seemingly without a trace.

He also knew that just because the Ranger teams had been mainly centred in certain cities, it didn't necessarily guarantee that their Ranger Keys were in those cities. The Corsairs had somehow found the Turbo Keys in Rio, a city that as far as he knew; the Turbo team had never been to during their tenure. The SPD Keys, Keys belonging to a team that as far as he knew were only seen in Reefside for a couple of days had somehow turned up in Los Angeles! He was sure there was some connection required to bring the keys to a location, but he didn't know what it was.

He had taken a new tack in his research, rather than research all the teams, he had decided to familiarise himself with the most recent one other than the Corsairs, who he already knew from his brother's reports had also been the Megaforce Rangers. He was curious if that had ever happened before, if perhaps he wasn't looking for dozens, possibly over a hundred Rangers, but a lot less since they may have simply taken on different powers.

Checking out the footage of the Samurai, he didn't even look up as Lavira walked into the room, accompanied by some X-borgs, carrying platters of food for him.

"Your dinner Your Highness." She greeted him. Prince Vekar just waved her off in an off-hand way, at which they put the platters down to get to whenever he felt like it. It was possible he wouldn't even touch it, and just order something else whenever the mood took him, but that was his right as prince. "How is your research going?"

"I'm concentrating on the Samurai team." He told her. "They teamed with the Megaforce team last year. They appear to have the closest connection to them, and yet for some reason, they haven't approached them."

"That is curious Your Highness." Lavira agreed. "If they had their Ranger Keys, I would have thought they would have sought the Corsairs out to bolster their arsenal."

"There must be something I'm missing." Prince Vekar said as he inspected the footage. Something curious caught his eye. "Wait...this destruction, Panorama in flames...how did they rebuild their city so quickly after this kind of destruction?"

"I...don't know Your Highness." She answered honestly. She inspected the footage closely, until something caught her attention. It was a banner on the city hall. "Mayoral election...1996?"

"But...the Samurai were active in 2011 and 2012!" He called out. "How could they be running around fifteen years before then?"

"Samurai...the ancient Samurai...they were nobles on this world..." She said as she started to pace, thinking about it. "Like your titles...the ancient Samurai's titles were hereditary. They were passed down from one generation to another! Perhaps the Samurai we're seeing there are the generation before."

"The Samurai parents?" He asked. "Then if their powers are hereditary, there's no telling how many generations of Samurai came before them!"

"But it does open up another thought, perhaps the reason the Samurai have not approached the Corsairs yet is because they don't have their Ranger Keys yet." She suggested. "Perhaps their Keys are somewhere more closely associated with their heritage?"

Prince Vekar smiled and pulled up a map image on the large screen in his room.

"Keep up surveillance here." He told her. "Have some units ready to deploy at a moments' notice. I have a feeling we may see the Corsairs heading there eventually."

"With all due respect...Japan is not a small country!" Lavira told him. "There could be literally millions of places..."

"It's a start." He told her. "Given how badly bungled our search for them has been up until now, it's a start, and that's good enough for me."

Back on the Animarium, the Corsair Rangers were just finishing packing up everything they planned to take with them while Noah got to work on the damaged engine. He had found everything he needed within the wreckage of General Palooza's ship, and had managed to effect a much better repair than he had expected.

"I'd still recommend stopping somewhere I can get to replace the engine properly, but it'll get us where we want to go." Noah told them, wiping off his hands on a rag. Emma came out of the ship with Troy, looking exhausted and more than a little grubby after lugging around all that scrap metal.

"There we go, not a single nut or bolt left anywhere on the island." She stated, looking to the Red Lion, who was sitting by the temple, purring contentedly. Jordan had appeared to meet with the Wild Force, his inner fanboy unable to resist the opportunity to meet the Ranger team that had begun his obsession with the Rangers.

"Red Lion's grateful that you cleaned up his home." Cole assured Emma. She just smiled.

"I kind of got that." She told him, looking to the Red Lion. "I don't know, I just...I just know..."

"You can look into his heart." Cole interrupted her. She just nodded. "What you have is a special gift, one that's possessed by all creatures, but humans...we've kind of forgotten it."

"So how can you do it?" Emma asked.

"I basically grew up in a rainforest as a gorilla." He told her. She just looked at him curiously.

"He's not kidding." Taylor chipped in. "He was lost in the rainforest as a baby. He was eventually taken in by a local tribe."

"What you have, that gift, it's something not a lot of people still know how to do." Cole told Emma. "But it's your heart that convinced him to join your cause. He'll come whenever you call him now."

Jordan just started bouncing on the ground, barely able to contain himself at this thought. Taylor just flicked a thumb in his direction.

"Um...I thought Eltarians were meant to be some kind of superior race or something." She told them. "Not...well..."

"Squeeing fanboys?" Troy chuckled. "Believe me, the human half of Jordan is an important half."

"It looks like it." Danny replied with a smile.

"We'll take the scrap with us, and deposit it somewhere safe." Emma assured them. "No doubt with all the damage The Armada have caused, someone will be able to use this scrap for something useful."

"There are plenty of repairs to be done." Max agreed.

"So, where's Princess Shayla?" Jordan asked them. Cole and the rest of the Wild Force just looked among themselves.

"We...we were actually kind of hoping you could tell us." He finally admitted. "She went back into hibernation after we defeated Master Org, but the Wild Zords called to us, to all of us. When we got here, she was gone."

"What?" Noah asked. "But...isn't she the guardian of the Wild Zords?"

"I was almost Court Marshalled and thrown out of the air force the last time I was a Ranger." Taylor told them. "After going AWOL a second time, I'll probably be discharged for sure. The only reason I'm here is because Princess Shayla disappeared. I couldn't ignore the Eagle Zord's cry."

"So Princess Shayla disappeared, and even the Wild Zords don't know where she went?" Jake asked, looking to the others. "Doesn't that sound familiar?"

"What are you talking about?" Max asked. "Do you know something?"

"Our mentor Gosei disappeared after the invasion." Troy informed them. "When we talked to the Mystic Force, they said the Mystic Mother had disappeared too."

"That can't be a coincidence." Taylor said abruptly, looking to Jordan. "So, what about it then Mr Superior Being, where are they? What's your daddy done with them?"

"You think I know?" Jordan asked her sceptically. "I only found out I was Eltarian a few months ago! Trust me, dad isn't exactly the most forthcoming when it comes to his master plans."

"If we find out anything, we'll tell you, we promise." Troy assured them. "But in the meantime, we really need to get going. We still have more powers to find, and something tells me that Prince Vekar's not going to wait around for us if he can help it."

"Well, before you go...we kind of prepared you a little something to remember us by." Merrick told them as he came out of the temple.

"Hey, you gave us plenty of food." Gia said with a smile. "We're going to be eating pretty well for the next couple of weeks!"

"Well, we just thought you'd like these!" Merrick answered. He held out his arms, in which there were a bunch of sleeveless jackets in their Ranger colours. Looking to the top one, the Red One, Troy saw that it had a logo stitched into the back of a dragon, with the title "Mighty Dragon" surrounding it. Jordan whooped in delight.

"We know you don't have animal themes anymore, but we went with your last ones." Max told them. He looked to Noah. "Um...you kind of nicked my nickname by the way."

"Sorry, I didn't really have a choice in that." Noah assured him as they accepted the jackets.

"So, are you guys heading back to Earth now?" He asked them. They looked around each other, before shaking their heads.

"With Princess Shayla gone, someone needs to stay with the Wild Zords." Alyssa replied. "But there's always a place for you here."

"That means a lot, thanks." Troy told them as the Corsairs gathered their belongings. "Come on guys, those keys aren't going to collect themselves."

With that, the Corsairs boarded the Red Galleon and blasted off as the Wild Force waved them off. As they left the Animarium, they stood by the rail, seeing the Wild Zords come from their hiding places to see them off.

"This place, it's so beautiful." Emma said with a smile as she pulled out her camera and snapped a few pictures. "It must be like what the Earth was like before humans messed it all up. I wish I'd had more time to take pictures."

"Well, you heard what Alyssa said, we can always come back." Troy told her, holding her warmly. Emma just smiled as he did so.

"So, whose turn is it to hit Tensou this time?" Gia asked.

"I'll do it." Noah told them. Emma just looked to him.

"But it's my..."

"Its fine, I'll take your turn." He assured her. He saw how she was looking at him. "Not that I think you need defending or...um...guys can we have a minute?"

The other Rangers all broke off and headed inside. Noah just looked to Emma as she stood, staring at him.

"Emma, this isn't a chivalry thing." He told her. "Well, I guess it kind of is, but not in that way...um...I...uh..."

Emma just continued to glare at him. He just let out a sigh.

"Emma, what I saw there on the Animarium, what happened today, that was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen." He told her. "The way you tracked the Red Lion, the way you can communicate with him...it's something I don't understand, something I'll probably never understand, but today you were in your element. You did things that none of us will ever be able to do."

He looked to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You were easily the strongest one of us today." Noah told her. "Emma, I want you to know, I get it now. I understand why you were upset by what I did."

Noah took a seat nearby and looked to her.

"I know I'm not much like my parents." He told her. "But dad, he was always that kind of guy. He was pretty old-fashioned in a lot of ways; I guess that's why he never really understood a lot of the stuff I'm into."

Noah looked to her.

"He'd open pickle jars, he'd always carry the bags, and he'd hold doors open." Noah explained. "I grew up always hearing about how he once ended up almost getting pneumonia because when he walked mom home from their high school dance, he insisted on giving her his jacket and walked home for five miles in the middle of winter."

"My dad did a lot of that kind of stuff too." Emma told him. He just smiled.

"I guess some of it rubbed off on me." He told her. "I guess I never realised I actually listened."

"Noah..."

"Emma, please, believe me, I never meant for you to take anything I said or did as somehow saying I thought you were weak or unable to deal with stuff yourself." Noah told her. "I guess, from a certain point of view, I can understand why it might be seen that way, but honestly...none of that's true. I guess...I guess I just didn't think anything of it. It's just what I've grown up listening to. So from now on, if a huge, scary ugly alien insults you, I'll let you deal with it."

"Thanks...I think." Emma replied. She hugged Noah warmly. "But you don't need to take my turn."

"Well, if you want to wear the Mr Brainfreeze outfit..."

"Wait, can't I reconsider..."

"I mean, I guess I wouldn't want to be thought of as sexist." Noah replied. "I mean, you can deal with the consequences just as well as any guy can..."

"Can I reconsider this for a moment?" Emma asked him. She then smiled. "Just promise me you won't take any pictures."

"I promise." Noah replied as they headed inside. Emma didn't see his fingers crossed behind his back.

**A/N:** Sorry about the couple of days' hiatus, had a lot on. It has, however, given me some ideas of how I want to re-tool "Samurai Surprise". Hope you enjoy what I come up with.


	9. The Key at the Gate

On the main galley of the ship, Emma came back into the room, her hair dripping wet, rubbing it frantically with a towel as she came to sit with her friends. They were all gathered around the table, as Jake portioned out lasagne for the others. Since they had left, they had started out all taking turns to cook, but after a very short time, they found that Jake was a surprisingly good cook when he put his mind to it, and it also helped him curb some of the more...compulsive...parts of his personality having a regular responsibility around the ship. More than that, Jake had found he actually really enjoyed cooking, and so more often than not, the responsibility for feeding the Corsair Rangers fell to him.

"OK, seriously guys, you cannot tell mom when I get home." Jake said for seemingly the hundredth time. One of the consequences of their constant travelling and fugitive status was that they couldn't always guarantee exactly what they would have to hand. Their allies and fans always made sure they had plenty to fill their cupboards with, but it wasn't as though they could exactly take their pick at the supermarket. Most of them weren't complaining, but as a small sacrifice, Jake had to occasionally break the rules of his Kosher diet. "There's plenty of garlic bread, but I'm sure Emma and Troy aren't going to be taking too much of that."

Emma just tossed her towel aside as she sat at the table with Troy, just giving Jake a little glare as she took a couple of pieces of garlic bread and put them on the edge of the plate. Troy sighed and looked to Noah.

"Yeah, thanks for that man." Troy said sarcastically. "I thought you were being a gentleman..."

"Hey, I didn't exactly force her to wear the Mr Brainfreeze outfit." Noah protested.

"Well, maybe I'd have reconsidered if I'd realised how much it stinks in there." She grumbled. "Have you guys ever washed that thing since we got it?"

"It doesn't exactly fit in the washing machine." Jake chuckled. Emma just started eating, but as soon as she started, the fantastic lasagne quickly took her mind off the experience.

"Well don't expect any sympathy from me." Tensou grumbled from his perch. "You're not the one risking a concussion every time one of you wants a clue!"

"Your brain's a computer Tensou, you can't get a concussion." Noah reminded him as he unravelled the paper with the last clue on it. "Anyway, we've had a little while to think about this clue."

"Find the ancient temple in the land of old Nippon,  
The ancient monument of the ancient Shogun's Song,  
Seeking wisdom of heart, the Heir to the lion lies in wait,  
For worthy warriors to pass through the blessed gate.  
Your enemies will meet you, your destruction to sow,  
But you will not pass, lest you observe Bushido."

The team all looked to Emma as she smiled. This was one of the least complicated clues they had received. At least, they knew pretty much straight away who they were looking for at the very least.

"Bushido, Nippon..." Emma said, looking thoroughly delighted. "The Samurai!"

"Bushido, the Way of the Warrior, the code Samurai followed." Noah confirmed. "And Nippon was an ancient name for Japan."

"So all we have to do is go to Japan and look for the Samurai!" Jake called out, before realising exactly how that sounded. "We got nothing!"

"Maybe not, what about this monument?" Gia asked. "The ancient gate...wait, didn't Emily tell us about going to Japan one time?"

"I remember Mike telling us she was so terrified on the flight she almost broke all his fingers she held his hand so tightly."

"Well, didn't she say they were going to some ancient shrine or something?" Gia asked. "A monument built to honour the ancient Samurai?"

"The Tengen Gate!" Emma answered; remember hearing the story from the Yellow Samurai Ranger. "That's where we're going! It has to be!"

"They flew to Kyoto airport, and then they went to the temple from there." Emma remembered. "I know it's not much, but..."

"But it's a place to start." Troy declared. "Tensou, set a course for Kyoto. It looks like we're going to see some old friends."

Up on The Armada Command Ship, Prince Vekar assembled his War Council. He didn't like being a step behind the Rangers, or the fact that he had already lost significant resources in his war against them. He had lost a whole flotilla of ships, and several of his commanders, not to mention more X-borgs and Bruisers than he could possibly begin to count. The war was beginning to get personal. The Rangers continued to grow stronger, more confident with every battle, and they continued to inspire hope in the Earthlings that he could be defeated. Vekar was beginning to lose patience with this approach. He had been lured into playing their game, into chasing them and often ending up chasing his own tail like an obedient pet instead of simply letting them come to him and crushing them. Now was the time to try a new tactic.

Damaras, Argus and Lavira were assembled on the bridge, together with a whole horde of X-borgs and Bruisers. They were all waiting for Prince Vekar. He came into the room, standing before them, taking his place up on the throne. He looked over his assembled war council.

"Damaras, perhaps you would like to begin this particular council by reminding us how your last strategy fared."

There was no laughter, one of the drawbacks to an army composed mainly of robots, but that didn't mean Damaras didn't feel frustration at this spectacle. His last plan was a solid one, and more than anything, if he really thought about it, Prince Vekar's strategies had not garnered any more success. Of course, it wasn't like he would get very far pointing that out.

"The Rangers gained new powers and a new Zord." He muttered in response. Prince Vekar just drummed his fingers on the edge of his throne.

"So, after sending one of our best spies to track them, we in fact made the Rangers stronger." Prince Vekar declared, before looking to Lavira. "Tell me Lavira, am I mistaken or is that the exact opposite of what we're trying to accomplish?"

"I believe it is Your Highness." She replied, not really wanting to take sides, since she knew it was possible at some point she would need Damaras' support if one of her plans or devices failed, but since he had directly asked her, it wasn't as though she would fare particularly well if she just ignored it.

He just settled into his chair and smirked arrogantly at Damaras.

"When was the last time you had a day off?" He asked.

"Your Highness?" Damaras asked him.

"It occurs to me, you've been campaigning for me for a long time. In the last year alone we've taken many worlds. I don't think you've had a break. Perhaps you are just...exhausted."

"I am always ready to serve at your side Your Highness." Damaras rushed out. He could see where this was going. Prince Vekar was already blaming him as his strategic officer for the latest defeats. It didn't matter to him that often he didn't listen, or suddenly changed the plan without any knowledge of the moving parts involved. He definitely had a habit of flipping out whenever it didn't look like things were going his way, even if Damaras, as an experienced general, had already calculated the likely losses. Unless he turned up with his army, showed off his force, and had his opponent immediately give up without a fight, Prince Vekar wasn't happy. He didn't like to lose, even if the loss was part of a greater plan he just didn't have the foresight to see. It was frustrating to deal with this side of his personality, but it wasn't as if Damaras had much of a choice in the matter.

"No, I think perhaps you've been working too hard as of late." Prince Vekar told him. "You just sit this one out. I think perhaps it is time for some fresh blood."

Just then, the door opened, and a couple of Bruisers were smashed into smithereens as a new commander arrived. He was wearing icy blue armour that looked not entirely dissimilar to Vekar's, and was carrying a large sword. He stepped in over the wreckage.

Seeing such an aggressive entry, Argus immediately went for his sword and rushed at the new arrival to tackle him. As they reached a stalemate, and Argus finally got a look at his face, he recognised the Commander. "Wait, I know you. Matacore?"

"What is an Elite Guard of The Armada doing here?" Damaras asked.

"He is here by my invitation." Prince Vekar informed him.

"I was told of your little...problem." Matacore sneered as he put his sword away, pointing at Damaras. "Despite having an entire fleet under your command, Earth has still not been taken over! Imagine my surprise when I arrived and found your fleet significantly smaller than when it left."

"I believe that some new talent may just be what we need, and to make sure things go differently, this time I will lead the attack myself!" Prince Vekar snapped as he got off his throne. "The scanners have picked up reports of the Red Galleon being seen on a course for Japan! I want everyone ready to deploy in five minutes!"

He then rounded on Damaras.

"Except you of course!" He said petulantly. "I know how you need to rest. Perhaps we can arrange more time off for you if Matacore proves himself."

As they left, Damaras just went to his quarters. Even though he was angry, he couldn't help having a little chuckle at Matacore's expense. Although the strength and ruthlessness of the Elite Guard were legendary, he couldn't help thinking that Matacore didn't know what he had let himself in for if Prince Vekar was going with him. His mood swings were difficult enough to deal with on the bridge of a battle ship, pity help him if he had to rely on the Prince in the field. He could rely on a member of the Elite Guard to lay down his life to ensure the Prince escaped, something he knew wasn't entirely out with the realms of possibility. Maybe he wouldn't need to worry about his position after all.

Meanwhile, in Kyoto airport, at the customs desk, a man was sitting, running through his day, casually checking papers as people passed by his desk. He looked completely bored and very put out. He'd been on a long shift, and the shift that was coming in to replace him was already late.

He accepted the next passport and checked it.

"Is the purpose of your trip business or leisure?" He asked.

"_That's kind of hard to...I guess the second one_." The passenger answered, in perfect Japanese. Hearing this, he looked up, seeing a young woman, maybe only a little over 5' 5" standing in front of him. She was wearing denims, and a denim jacket, with a white and red striped jersey. She had long, blonde hair that was pulled back into a ponytail, and a Panorama Panthers baseball cap pulled down, partially obscuring her face.

"_I'm going to have to ask you to remove your hat miss_." He told her. Lauren pulled off her baseball cap and looked straight into his eyes, letting him verify that she was who his passport said she was. "_Is it a family emergency?_"

"_Something like that._" Lauren sighed. He stamped her passport and handed it back to her.

"_The baggage collection is just through that door._" He told her. Lauren hefted her backpack onto her shoulder and walked through, completely bypassing the baggage carousel and heading out of the door. She had left in such a hurry; she hadn't bothered to pack a bag. It didn't matter anyway, as the current head of the Shiba Clan, headed to the Tengen Gate, it wasn't as though pretty much everything she needed wouldn't be provided.

As she went, she looked around, making sure she wasn't being followed, before beginning the long hike towards the city limits. Things back home were starting to get to her, and her decision to leave was pretty much a case of grabbing her backpack and her passport. She hadn't told anyone she was coming, so no one was there to pick her up. It was a long walk to the Tengen Gate, but then she was looking for space to think when she left the Shiba House. It wasn't as though a long hike was going to hurt giving her some of the space she was looking for.

Up on the Red Galleon, the Rangers were finally closing in on Kyoto, when the scanners started going haywire. Noah went immediately to the viewing screens, tapping keys.

"What is it Noah?" Troy asked.

"Yeah, I thought Prince Vekar pulled up all his garrisons." Jake stated.

"Well, there's something waiting for us, something's already here." He told them. "These energy readings...they're huge! Whatever they have waiting for us, it's a big force, I haven't seen The Armada roll this deep since..."

"Since Harwood." Gia sighed. She looked to Troy. "What do you think the odds are that Prince Vekar's seen one too many Godzilla movies and couldn't tell the difference between Tokyo and Kyoto?"

"I think we can pretty much put money on it if he's here, he's probably had the same idea we have." Troy answered, getting up from his seat and pulling on his great-coat, before heading up to the deck. "Come on guys, if they've gone to this much trouble to arrange a welcoming committee, it seems rude not to meet them!"

With that, they all gathered their coats and followed him up onto the deck.

Down on the ground, Prince Vekar and his forces had arrived. A huge army of X-borgs and Bruisers marched through the streets, so many that the citizens fleeing from them could feel the ground shake beneath their footsteps.

Lauren was so lost in her thoughts; she didn't register what was going on around her. She walked, her eyes pretty much fixed on the ground, completely oblivious to the people running past her. It was only as one slammed into her, knocking her flat onto her back without even stopping to check on her that she was pulled from her thoughts and concentrated on something other than her own situation. She looked around, screaming obscenities in Japanese, but as she noticed the man continuing without seeming to register anything she said, throwing his briefcase away to lighten his load and carrying on in a pace that would give Usain Bolt a run for his money, she finally realised the man obviously had a lot more to worry about than the dozy tourist he'd just sent flying. Lauren turned her gaze back forward, and saw the force assembled before her.

"Oh great, that's just what I need." She muttered.

Prince Vekar stood at the front of the force, calling them to a halt. He threw his arms open wide.

"People of Earth, I am Prince Vekar!" He declared regally. "Consider this your eviction notice!"

Prince Vekar looked out proudly at the people fleeing before him. Those that weren't running away were looking for cover, hiding and cowering before the terrifying force that stood before them. He got a little smirk on his face as his confidence built, bolstered by the huge force surrounding him.

"Luckily, I'm feeling generous, so I'm giving you two options. Surrender, or be destroyed!" He announced with a wild hand gesture.

"Never!" Troy called out. Prince Vekar, Argus and Matacore all turned towards the direction of the shout. Lauren took this distraction as her opportunity to head into a side-street, taking up some cover behind some trash cans. She watched as The Corsair Rangers, the team she had met over a year ago as the Megaforce Rangers walked into view.

"How DARE you interrupt me?" Prince Vekar screamed, his temper already starting to play on him. He had brought his army for exactly this reason, but he still didn't like being opposed. He had fought the Rangers for long enough to know that they weren't going to just roll over and submit. His heartbeat quickened a little to see them. Even though he had been expecting them, he couldn't help feeling anxious being so close to the people who had caused his forces so many problems.

"Well, you were kind enough to throw us a party." Jake said with a smile. "We thought it would be rude not to at least say hello."

"So who are your two friends?" Noah asked, pointing to Argus and Matacore. "On second thought, don't bother answering. They won't live long enough for it to matter."

The Rangers morphed into their Corsair Ranger mode, and brought out their weapons, firing towards them with their blasters.

"Protect me!" Prince Vekar screamed as the blasts came his way. Matacore and Argus immediately threw themselves into the line of fire, blocking most of the shots, but one hit Prince Vekar's shoulder, burning him as it glanced him. He immediately screamed in agony, like he had lost a limb. "X-borgs, ATTACK!"

As Lauren saw the battle start to get underway, she reached into her bag, pulling out her Samuraizer. Her Ranger powers were gone, but the Symbol Power that was her birthright had run in her family's bloodline for centuries before the first Samurai Ranger powers had been created. She was a Samurai, and powers or not, it was her duty to protect others from any threat.

As she gripped the Samuraizer though, preparing to launch herself into battle, she trembled on the spot. As much as her training willed her to intervene, something stopped her from entering the battle. She sank down, cursing herself for her weakness. What was wrong with her? She was a Samurai! It was her duty to protect others, regardless of the risk to herself.

Tears ran down her face as another instinct washed over her, stopping her from running into a battle that before, she would have entered without a second thought. She put the Samuraizer away, and wiping away her tears as she finally gave in to an instinct she didn't understand, she ran away.


	10. A Prince Among Men

The Rangers' battle raged on in the streets of Kyoto as they smashed through a legion of Grinders. Matacore stood back with Argus and Prince Vekar as they watched the Rangers fight. The Prince had already been hit once by a stray blaster shot, and he was clutching the wound on his arm, whimpering as the burning sensation got to him. While he was driven by conquest and warfare, he rarely took the field himself, and seldom ever got hurt directly. He stared on as Troy and the others finished off the X-borgs and Bruisers he had brought along with him.

"You'd think you'd have learned by now, we're getting pretty good at smashing up your toys." Troy taunted him.

"So, are you going to try taking us on by yourself? Or are you just going to stand back there and sulk about it?" Jake asked him. Prince Vekar screamed out in anger at the slight.

"Are you two just going to let him talk to me like that?" Prince Vekar screamed, shoving Argus forward. "Go and get them!"

"So you ARE still hiding behind others." Gia answered. "I guess we just have to send these bully boys packing, then we can see how tough you really are!"

"I don't think so!" Matacore said as he stepped before the Prince. "Allow me!"

"You know, he does look kind of tough." Jake commented. "Maybe we could use a little energy boost."

"Let's go legendary!" Troy called out, taking a look at Matacore. He could sense that there was something powerful about him, and while they had a fair bit of power left in their suits, he didn't want to take any chances. This Matacore had given the obviously cowardly Prince Vekar the confidence to risk coming to town himself, so he figured it wasn't like having a little power boost could hurt. "Legendary Ranger Mode, Mighty Morphin'!"

"It's Morphin' Time!" The team called out together as they all morphed into the first of Earth's Ranger teams. They brought out their weapons, and all attacked Matacore, while Argus kept close to the Prince in case one of them tried to go after him again.

They quickly found that their initial thoughts about Matacore were right. They could see why Prince Vekar had trusted him to keep him safe while he risked coming to Earth to face them directly. Gia rolled to her feet, hitching her Power Daggers into a back-hand grip.

She launched herself for him, but he seemed to almost sense her coming, turning at just the right moment to slice her down, sending her tumbling away.

Jake and Emma ran at him, Emma firing energy arrows, and Jake firing blasts from his Power Axe's cannon mode. Matacore batted the blasts away harmlessly, before launching an energy wave of his own that hit like a runaway train, putting both of them down.

"Man, this guy is crazy tough!" Noah commented as he and Troy went after him, swinging their weapons with all the strength they had. Matacore disarmed them both, before he cut them down. As the rest of the team formed up around them, Prince Vekar started to applaud his henchman's efforts.

"Well done Matacore! Even powered up they're no match for you!" He yelled gleefully, momentarily forgetting his minor injury. "Now finish them off! OOOOWWW!" He started to whine again as in his exuberance he moved too quickly, exacerbating the slight burn from the energy blast he had taken.

"He's tough, but we've still got more Keys." Troy reminded them.

"I've got an idea." Noah told them, seeing the Prince standing behind Argus, crying and flailing around, clutching his arm like it was about to fall off. "You keep Matacore busy."

"Time for a little misdirection!" Troy answered as he pulled out the next key. "Ninja Storm!"

The team morphed into their Ninja Storm guise, rushing straight for Matacore. As they surrounded him, forcing him to defend against their combined attack, Noah rushed straight past them, heading for Argus and Prince Vekar. The Prince saw him coming, and realised Noah was staring straight at him. Even with the powerful Matacore on his side, he started to panic.

"Argus, protect me!" He screamed. Argus drew his sword, and moved to intercept the Blue Ranger.

"Halt right there!" He called out as Noah's sword rebounded off his own, staggering back.

"Fine, I'll take you both on!" Noah yelled as he brought up his Ninja Sword, starting to circle Argus as the Prince moved to ensure he kept his bodyguard between him and Noah.

"Choose your words carefully Blue Ranger, they may be your last!" He warned him.

"Yeah, the last guy that said something like that...let's just say it didn't end well for him!" Noah answered, remembering his battle with Skatana. Argus just rushed for him, swinging his sword.

Noah worked frantically to try and find a gap in his guard, but when he did, his sword just reverberated, and it felt like the bones in his hand were about to jump out of position. His armour was so strong; it was like hitting an anvil! The armour didn't seem to bother Argus though, he still moved like quicksilver, being seemingly everywhere at once. Noah finally fell as Argus cut him down, knocking him into his Corsair Mode.

"You're good Blue Ranger. I can see how you defeated Skatana." Argus said as he started to advance on him. "Of course, there's something you should know. He was my student! I taught him everything he knew!"

Noah just gulped as he heard this. Skatana had been the toughest opponent he had ever taken down. To know that Argus had been the one that trained him, he didn't even want to think how good Argus had to be. He watched as Argus' sword started to glow, and he created a crescent of pure energy in the air.

"Solar Flare!" He called out, swinging his sword, and creating an x-shaped energy blast straight at him. Noah hit the ground hard, and could feel his power levels falling fast!

"Defeated, defenceless and all alone!" Prince Vekar announced, finally having the courage to speak now that he saw Noah on the ground. "And you thought you could defeat me? Argus, obliterate him!"

"Yes boss!" Argus said obediently as he started to walk towards Noah.

The Blue Ranger looked around as he heard some explosions from behind him, and saw his friends on the ground too. It looked like they weren't faring much better. Noah clutched his energy blaster tightly in one hand, while he brought up his sword. He knew that if his plan was to work, he needed to make it work now, before it was too late.

He rushed towards Argus, one hand behind his back as he swung around his sword. Argus just prepared for the attack, and as he saw Noah coming, moved to counter, and hooked Noah's blade, ripping the sword from his hand.

Noah took that moment to enact his plan, bringing around his other hand. Instead of a sword, Argus found a gun coming at him, straight into his face, blasting him at point-blank range. He clutched his face, his optics momentarily knocked out by the blast. He would recover his vision.

The blast had winded Noah, and he had dropped his blaster, but he saw he now had a clear path straight to Prince Vekar. Summoning up all the strength he had, he ran straight at him, launching himself into the air and slamming his knee straight into his face. As Noah tumbled to the ground, all but spent, the Prince clutched his face, screaming like his face had almost been torn off. Noah could see some blood, and knew he had broken the Prince's nose, but in addition to that...he could swear he saw tears.

"My face! Anything but my face!" Prince Vekar screamed. He pulled his hand away from his face, seeing blood on his hand and started to wail in a childish manner. "Ah, help me! Argus! Matacore!"

"The Prince is hurt!" Matacore declared as he shoved Troy out the way, running over to the Prince's side. "We must retreat!"

Argus and Matacore grabbed Prince Vekar, at which they all started to glow, before teleporting away. Troy helped Noah to his feet, at which they all de-morphed.

"That was way too close!" Jake commented.

"Yeah, that Matacore guy seemed to know what we were doing before we did." Gia agreed.

"Argus is tough too." Noah grumbled.

"They were wiping the floor with us." Emma agreed. "If the Prince hadn't shown his true colours..."

"I saw how he reacted when we shot him." Noah interrupted them. "I figured he's the kind of guy that likes to hurt other people, but he clearly can't handle it when someone fights back."

"Typical bully." Gia agreed.

"We got lucky this time, but I have a feeling it won't be long before they're back." Troy told them as they started to look around. "Any ideas how we're going to find the Tengen Gate?"

"Well, we know it's outside the city, somewhere in the mountains." Noah reminded them. "It's not much, but it's a start."

"This is going to be a long day." Jake sighed as they all struck out on their journey.

Meanwhile, outside the city, Lauren had finally stopped running, hunching over to catch her breath.

She looked around, satisfying herself that no one had followed her. She hadn't even stuck around long enough to see if the Rangers had destroyed the invading Armada forces. She had succumbed to her fear and run off, leaving them possibly to their fate. She felt ashamed, disgusted with herself that she would abandon them like that, even knowing that without her Ranger powers there was potentially not much she could do to help, that wasn't the way she had been raised.

She pulled out a bottle of water, and took a long drink, before replacing the cap and starting back along the path. She couldn't see the city anymore, but she was sure that if she couldn't hear explosions, never mind giant monsters, then it was likely the Rangers had succeeded in taking care of the invaders. She wished she could be certain, but she couldn't bring herself to turn back, to face that kind of danger. Hell, she couldn't even bring herself to face the situation she was in back home. That was why she had grabbed her bag and ran.

It was a few more miles, but eventually she found her way to the mystical barrier which kept the temple hidden from sight. To anyone that didn't belong to one of the Samurai bloodline, or have a personal invite to the temple, all they would see was forest. Like the Mystics, the Samurai knew how to protect their sacred sites. Anyone else walking through this forest would find themselves walking in circles until they finally ended up walking away. Lauren though found herself standing before the massive gateway. As she approached it, she knocked on the gate, and waited for one of the attendants to open it.

Eventually, the gates opened and a man in a robe approached her. As soon as he saw her, he immediately came to her side.

"My Lady?" He asked her. It wasn't every day that the current Shogun turned up on their doorstep. Lauren took a deep breath.

"I need somewhere to stay." She told him. "Daisuke..."

"Master Daisuke is currently overseeing the training of some of the initiates." He informed her. "Would you like somewhere to freshen up after your journey?"

"Thank you." She replied as the attendant took her bag.

"My Lady, you don't know how pleased I am to see you." He told her. "We received a call from your brother. He said you disappeared. All of the other Samurai are looking for you. They will be overjoyed to know..."

"I do not want them contacted." Lauren told him. He just looked puzzled.

"But your friends, your family, they believed something dreadful must have happened to you." He informed her. "Jayden said you left without a word..."

"If I wanted anyone to know where I was I would have told them." Lauren snapped at him a little too forcefully. She looked away, ashamed at herself for the way she was treating this man. He just wanted to serve her as he had been sworn to do. "I just...I came here because I needed some space, some time to myself to figure something out."

"Of course my lady." He answered. "Is there anything else you need?"

"Have a physician report to my quarters." She told him. The attendant stopped dead.

"Are you alright?" He asked. "Are you...?"

"I am uninjured." She assured him. "I would just...I would just like to see a physician."

"As you wish my Lady." He replied as he showed her to a room. He opened the door, and placed her bag just inside the door as she went in. "I will inform Master Daisuke of your arrival when he is available. Do you require refreshments or...?"

"No, that will be all." She answered. "I would like to rest after my journey."

"I'll bring it immediately." He told her as he closed over the door. Lauren went over to the bed, before flopping down onto it. By the time the physician came to her room, she was snoring loudly.

He carefully manoeuvred her into a more comfortable position before covering her with a blanket and leaving her to rest. She'd had a long journey, and he didn't need to be Daisuke to see that something was weighing heavily on her. For now, he would let her rest.

Back on The Armada Command Ship, Prince Vekar was taken at his command to the medical bay. His screaming echoed the entire length and breadth of the ship, and to anyone on board, they would have thought that he was on death's door. Inside the room however, it was a very different story.

"The burn on his arm...it is barely a surface wound." The physician told Lavira as they went aside to get some instruments while Argus and Damaras stayed at Vekar's side to try and calm him down.

"My face, they disfigured my face!" Vekar screamed as his attendants tried to reassure him. The physician just looked to Lavira, his brows furrowed.

"His nose is broken!" He said sceptically. "It isn't even broken that badly. Once I re-set it, he should be fine in a couple of days once the swelling goes down!"

"You can tell him that if you want." She stated. The physician just gulped, realising what it sounded like. The truth was that he was saying the Prince was over-reacting. He had seen far worse injuries suffered in training accidents. Of course, he wasn't exactly in a hurry to tell the Prince, who as a child had once had a play-mate's hands removed because he had defeated him in a board game, that he was behaving like a baby.

"I merely wished to express...the emotional trauma is making his injuries seem worse than it is." He told her. "If the Prince would just calm down, then the emotional and psychological trauma those savages caused..."

"I will speak with the Prince." She told the physician. "You just see to his physical treatment."

As she went to the Prince's side, she found Damaras frantically trying to reassure him that he would keep his arm.

"The physician told me that the Rangers have underestimated your strong constitution." Lavira told him. "I am sure someone less powerful than yourself would already have perished."

"They have dared to disfigure and..."

"We have the finest of physicians available." She reminded him. "He has assured me that you will not have any lasting scars. It is the emotional trauma..."

"Those...those savages tried to kill me!" He screamed. She just made a soothing shooshing sound as she administered a sedative.

"Allow the physicians to do their work." She told him. "Let us exact vengeance on your behalf."

As she, Damaras and Argus left the room, Damaras just looked to her.

"Emotional trauma?" He asked her. "They barely touched him."

"Do you think I'm going to tell him that?" She asked in response as they went to the bridge to plan their next move, closing the infirmary door to shut out the Prince's whining as they went.

Back at the Tengen Gate, Daisuke had finished up his lessons, and had been informed of Lauren's arrival. He got to her room, finding a physician outside. The physician stood up and approached Daisuke.

"Have you...?"

"She was awake briefly, and insisted on a check-up." He told him.

"How is she?" Daisuke asked.

"She is uninjured." The physician replied. He drew in closer to Daisuke and whispered something in his ear. As they parted, Daisuke just looked to him, looking a little confused.

"Then why is she here?" He asked.

"I do not believe the problem to be medical in nature." The physician said in a deep sigh. Daisuke nodded in understanding.

"I would like you to do something for me." Daisuke told him. "I have heard reports that the Corsair Rangers have been spotted in the city."

"Master?" The physician asked.

"I have lived far too long to believe in coincidences." Daisuke told him. "Have one of our agents in the city extend them an invitation."

"It will be done Master Daisuke." He told him as he left.


	11. The Shiba Issue

Four hours...that was how long the Rangers spent walking around in the mountains outside Kyoto, four hours! It was half a shift for anyone with a day job, but for the Rangers...

"Man, this is BOOOOORING!" Jake said as they finally came to the edge of a creek, slumping down on a rock. "What the hell? I thought it was the ninjas that were into hiding and stuff!"

"I guess even the Samurai had stuff they needed to hide." Noah told him.

"We knew this wasn't going to be easy." Troy replied as he took a drink from a water canteen. "I guess..."

"We've been by here before." Emma told them, interrupting Troy. He just looked to her.

"Are you sure?" He asked her. She just nodded as she knelt down by a root, running her hand over it.

"Wasabi." She stated. "There are only about a dozen streams in the world where it grows."

"But...every sushi restaurant in the world sells it by the ton!" Gia reminded her.

"The majority of what people call Wasabi is really horseradish that's been dyed green*." Emma told them. "Wasabi only grows wild in about a dozen streams in the world...we've been by here before, I think maybe twice."

"Why does that sound familiar?" Jake asked. The rest of the team all looked to each other.

"We've been walking in circles." Troy told them. "But we've stayed on a straight path."

"Just like in Briarwood." Gia added. Troy pulled out his sword and carved an X shape into a tree.

"Wait here." He told them. He ran down the path leading away from the edge of the stream. It took a while, but about 10 minutes later, he arrived from the other direction.

"OK, definitely like Briarwood." Troy answered. "Good catch Emma."

"So there's some kind of enchantment on the Tengen Gate?" Jake asked.

"I guess that Symbol Power Jayden talked about was more powerful than we believed." Noah added. Just then, they were all interrupted as Matacore walked into the clearing, leading a couple of dozen X-borgs. He looked to them as they all quickly assembled, taking up position for a fight.

"Rangers, I've come to restore the Prince's honour!" He declared. The Rangers all looked to each other in confusion. This was the guy that only hours ago had run screaming from battle because Noah had hit him in the face, this was the guy that was screaming like a baby when someone actually hit him back.

"Honour?" Noah asked in a scoff as they prepared to fight.

"Yes!" He announced. "You will pay dearly for disfiguring Prince Vekar!"

"We barely touched him!" Jake protested. "As soon as we pulled out our weapons he cowered behind you! As soon as Noah hit him, he ran away!"

"So, it's YOU that disfigured my Prince!" He declared, levelling his sword in Noah's direction. The Blue Ranger just looked to Jake and sighed.

"Yeah, thanks for that." He muttered.

"I WILL uphold the Prince's reputation and ruin yours!" He screamed. "As one of the Royal Family's Elite Guard, it is my duty to destroy you all!"

"Fanatical much?" Gia asked.

"He can't be too smart if he works for that Prince." Troy answered as they all prepared for the attack.

Before any of them could do anything though, the entire riverbank was flooded with men in black suits, completely enveloping them with the exception of a small slit allowing their eyes to be seen. Some of them were carrying what seemed to be banners.

"What the hell?" Jake asked as some of them unfurled a banner between them and Matacore. The others ran around them, creating a white canvas loop around them.

"What are they...?" Troy's words tailed off as they dropped the banner and they found themelves in a totally different place. There was a rock garden, a large pagoda, several bamboo buildings, and large areas of training mats, where people were practicing Martial Arts. "...doing?" They heard a cry ringing out though the mountains that they recognised as Matacore's voice. It sounded like he was at least a mile away, possibly more.

"You must forgive the Kuroko." They heard a voice saying. They all turned to see a man coming their way. He looked to be advancing in his years...to be charitable; it looked like he was in his sixties. He walked with a distinct hobble, and relied on a cane to help him. He was completely bald and wearing a Kimono. "I am Daisuke, the Temple Master of the Tengen Gate."

"So we were right, the Tengen Gate was here." Troy asked. He just nodded as he extended a hand.

"I believe you are the Red Corsair Ranger." He greeted him. Troy just looked to his hand, and then to him.

"You've been watching us for hours haven't you?" He asked. Daisuke just nodded, keeping his hand extended.

"So why all of...this?" Jake asked.

"There are many dangerous powers and artefacts within these grounds." Daisuke informed them. "We must keep this location secret."

"What about those guys...the...Kuroko that hid us from Matacore?" Noah asked.

"No person who came to train here did so with their eyes closed." Daisuke replied. "They all knew the risks when they signed up as students at this temple." One of the Kuroko ran to him and kneeled before him, presenting Daisuke with a scroll. Noah just leaned in to the others.

"Kuroko were set-dressers in Kabuki Theatre." He explained. "They were meant to be treated like they weren't seen as they changed the sets and props. In time, people were so trained not to see them that they just...didn't. The western idea of what the Ninja dressed like..."

"Was based on the costume of the Kuroko." Daisuke concluded as he put the scroll away. "Despite my age, my hearing is quite excellent. No one knows if there was ever a ninja who dressed as a Kuroko to get lose to a target...but it seems plausible. In case you're interested, those Kuroko that remained returned without a single casualty."

"If you know we're here, then you know why we're here." Troy told him, relieved to hear that no one died to conceal them. "We're looking for..."

"I will have my attendants show you to your quarters. You can clean up and change there." He told them. The Rangers all looked among each other.

"What?" Jake asked. "We just came for..."

"You came as all others do seeking an answer to your problems." Daisuke interrupted him. "It will not be as simple as me simply GIVING you the answer."

"Look, I don't mean to be disrespectful, but we don't really have a lot of time here." Jake answered. "Now, if you'll just show us where..."

Jake found himself flat on his back as he reached out to touch Daisuke, far faster than he believed a man his age should ever be able to move. Daisuke just chuckled.

"We can all do with some teaching, can we not?" Daisuke asked him. "The only man who has nothing to learn is a cadaver."

"Point taken." Jake groaned from the stone floor, nursing his ribs. Daisuke just smiled.

"Come, I will show you to your quarters." He told them. "Troy, I believe you and Emma would appreciate that hut over there. The rest of you, follow me."

As Troy and Emma headed off to their appointed quarters, the others followed Daisuke, keen to know why he had brought them here, and more importantly, what they had to do to earn their newest powers.

Back on the Armada Command Ship, Damaras gripped the sides of his console tightly.

"What do you mean they 'disappeared'?" He asked Matacore.

"We were preparing for battle, then some men in black showed up!" He replied. "They disappeared!"

"Disappeared?" Damaras asked. "What of the men in black?"

"They disappeared too." He told him.

"So, you are telling me that you, an Elite Guard...were sent to find a group of teenagers, and you couldn't do that?" He asked.

"There must be some form of magic at work..."

"Save your excuses, bring us results." Damaras replied, severing the communications link. Lavira just looked at him.

"You do know he is in the running to replace you right?" She asked. Damaras just laughed.

"Not if I can help it." He replied.

Back at the Tengen Gate, Daisuke took Gia on the rest of the tour. He'd shown the others where they were staying, but he brought her with him much deeper into the temple.

"I am afraid we don't have much in the way of guest accommodation." He told her. "It isn't often we have so many unexpected guests."

He knocked on the door, before opening it. He gestured Gia inside. As she came in through the door, she saw someone sitting up on the edge of the bed. It only took her a moment to recognise her.

"Lauren!" Gia gushed as she ran in, hugging her. Lauren just looked to Gia, then to Daisuke.

"I am afraid there are no more guest quarters." He told her. "For now, you will have to share."

As he closed the door, Lauren just looked at Gia, who was smiling brightly.

"We KNEW we'd be seeing you guys soon!" She yelled. "So, where is everyone..."

"Panorama." Lauren replied. "Or...nearby at least."

"Wait, you aren't all here?" Gia asked. Lauren shook her head. "Well, what's been going on? We wished we could go to Jayden and Antonio's wedding...what about Kevin and Mia's twins?...Oh, what did Mike and Emily name their kid...?"

Lauren got up from the bed and ran into the bathroom, slamming the door shut. It wasn't long before Gia heard loud heaving sounds.

"Well...great to see you too." She replied. She looked around, realising there was only one bed in the room, but could see bedding rolls next to the cupboard. She just went over, and started to unroll one. Looking to the door, despite the vomiting sounds, she couldn't help smiling. "Even when you're sick you're cute."

Elsewhere, streets burned after the relentless bombardment. People ran, screaming as the flames consumed the area. A little outside the city, a dark-haired man ran through the forest, looking for something. As he finally found what he was looking for, he smiled.

He was just short of six feet tall, and wearing a carbon-composite battle armour like the rest of his regiment. The Chevrons on his shoulder marked him as a captain, but right now, he was captain of nothing. His forces had been completely over-run, even his former team mates, his fellow Rangers had been defeated.

They were still there, resting exactly where they had been placed all those years before. Five swords all lay, imbedded in the rock, sitting, waiting for their owners to come and claim them. It had been many years, but he knew if there was any hope, this was it.

He ran, grabbing the hilt of the centre sword, and pulled with all his strength, but it didn't budge, not an inch.

"Come on." He grumbled as he gripped it in both hands, bracing himself against the rock and started to pull with every inch of his being. "Come on you filthy..."

He was thrown aside as an explosion ripped through the area. Mike saw his blaster a short way off and started to reach for it, only for a boot to step on his wrist. He looked up, seeing Lafitte standing over him.

"I told you, this could have been so much easier." He said in a casual drawl, levelling a pistol at his head. "Now, one more time...tell me where to find them."

"Screw you!" Mike spat, splattering blood on his clothing. Lafitte was only interrupted as one of his Ranger Puppets came to his side. It was the Blue Centurion. He handed him something. Mike looked in horror as Lafitte opened his hand, showing him the Lost Galaxy Ranger keys.

"I guess I don't need you after all." He replied. Mike just glared at him, refusing to close his eyes. If Lafitte was going to finish him, he would have to look him in the eye when he did it. Lafitte just kicked him under the jaw, at which Mike passed out.

"I wasn't paid to kill you." He stated as he closed his fist around his newly-acquired keys. "I have what I came for."

Later in the day, the Corsair Rangers all gathered on the edge of a training mat, dressed in training uniforms. They all knew they were here to learn something, to earn the Samurai Ranger keys, but so far they still had no idea what. Right now, they were just kind of going with it.

As they waited for training to begin, they all looked around as they saw Lauren arriving. She too was in a training uniform, and carrying a shinai. She looked to the Rangers, and then to Daisuke.

"Daisuke..."

"You are all here to learn something new." He told them. "I was witness to the last battle. You all have much to learn."

He gestured to Lauren to get onto the mat, which she eventually did, after what seemed like hours of contemplation. He then signalled to Jake to get up.

"Try to score a point." He instructed Jake. This wasn't the first time he'd trained against Lauren, he knew how good she was, and doubted he had anything like the skill she did. Still, he knew he needed to do what was asked if he wanted to get the keys for his team.

The bout was quick. With two loud cracks, Lauren had knocked his shinai aside and given him a painful blow across the back. Jake cursed under his breath as Lauren set up again.

"Try again." Daisuke told him. "This time...try to block her attack."

As they continued their bout, Emma couldn't help smiling, seeing the way Gia was looking at Lauren.

"You know, she is kind of cute." Emma reminded her.

"Yeah, it's just a shame she's straight." Gia replied.

"It doesn't mean you can't perv a little." Emma told her as Jake screamed in pain following another attack he couldn't find an answer for. "I mean, I know I'm with Troy, but you seriously don't want to know what I'm thinking about when I watch Fast Five."

"The Rock?" Gia asked. Emma just nodded.

"What can I say, he is pretty..."

Their attention was pulled up as Jake let out a huge yell on the last exchange. He smashed Lauren's shinai aside, grabbing her wrist to keep it out of the way. He knew he was nowhere near good enough to beat her with a sword, so if he had any hope at all, he had to take it out of the equation.

He moved in, slamming a knee deep into her stomach. Lauren immediately hit the mat, cradling her stomach, and started tapping the mat. It was a sign of submission, an indication that she was giving the match to Jake. Jake just seemed to look confused as she did this, gesturing over attendants.

"You win." Lauren rushed out as they helped her up. "Get me to my room."

"Lauren..."

He wasn't answered though as she started to rattle off panicked words in Japanese. Jae knew enough Japanese to order a spicy tuna roll, but that was about it. He had no idea what Lauren was saying. As the attendants dragged her away towards her room, he looked to the others apologetically.

"I...I barely touched her!" He protested. Gia just ran after Lauren, heading towards their room.

As she got there, she found attendants clamouring around her, trying to keep her calm. He looked to one of them as he came up to her, saying something in Japanese that from the context of his body-language she could presume was him asking her to leave.

"Try and make me leave." Gia told him. He looked a little stunned, but Gia just looked to Lauren. "Clear the room or I will."

Lauren gave a command in Japanese, and in moments, the attendants had all left. She looked up to Gia.

"You know, you'll probably be fine." Gia told her. "You aren't even showing yet."

"I don't..."

"Lauren, don't try to bullshit me." Gia told her. "I know you, I know what you're like...you're fearless"

"I have plenty of fear, trust me." Lauren muttered, at which the door opened, and a physician started to make his way in. Gia just grabbed him and shoved him roughly out the door, before slamming it shut. "Gia..."

"Lauren, I was hit harder by my little cousin and he's in Kindergarten." Gia told her. "There's a reason you're out here isn't there?"

"I..." Gia silenced her with a hand gesture as she sat down on the bed. She looked to the tray on her table which had some tea and dry crackers waiting.

"You're pregnant aren't you?" Gia asked. Lauren just wrapped her arms around herself defensively and nodded as she started to tear up. "Jeremy...?"

"He doesn't know." Lauren sniffed. "Nobody does."

"Lauren..."

Gia couldn't say another word as Lauren started to cry hysterically. She just got up, and opened the door, finding the physician waiting.

"I think...I think she wants to see you." Gia told him as he came in, before heading outside the room, closing the door to let the physician do his work.


	12. Samurai Surprise

Lauren sat on the bed, hugging her knees to her chest as Emma and Gia sat with her. Gia knew Emma was better at a lot of the touchy-feely stuff than she was, but she somehow doubted that bringing the whole team in on this was the best way to go. Lauren was...well...a polite way to say that she was quirky. Her entire life, she had grown up in isolation to hide her from the Nighlock. She was raised pretty much exclusively by attendants, sensei and servants that had been pretty much been actively discouraged from having any form of emotional attachment to her. She had grown up more or less on her own, which had a marked effect on her social skills...or more accurately her lack of them. Her time with the other Samurai had obviously helped, but there were still times she said or did something that showed two years living in the real world didn't exactly reverse fifteen years of a life lived more or less in isolation from friends or family.

Looking at her now, it looked like she had regressed quite badly. She had made huge strides to create a normal life for herself. She had started to make friends outside of the Samurai families, she had started going to university, and the last time that the Megaforce had contacted her, it was only shortly before Jayden and Antonio's wedding and she was talking about moving out of the Shiba house to give them some space. Things had been going well, but by the looks of things, the situation she was in now was something she just wasn't ready to deal with.

"So, you're pregnant?" Emma asked her. Lauren just nodded. Emma took a deep breath as she tried to get her head around the new information. "Is it...is it Jeremy's?"

"What do you take me for, of course its Jeremy's!" She snapped. "It's not like I have admirers lining up around the block."

"I find that hard to believe." Gia said quietly. Emma just threw a pillow at her, but by the looks of things, Lauren either hadn't heard her, or hadn't registered what she had said.

"Sure, occasionally someone starts talking to me in the coffee shop or something, but usually their interest ends pretty much after a few minutes of talking to me." Lauren told them. "Even a lot of Jeremy's friends still think I'm a complete basket case."

"So...I'm guessing this wasn't planned either?" Gia asked her. Lauren shook her head.

"We...we were being careful!" She insisted. "We used protection! We weren't trying for kids; he's not even finished his PhD thesis!"

"So this isn't exactly ideal." Emma stated. Lauren just looked at her.

"Not ideal?" She shrieked. "It's anything BUT ideal! How am I meant to deal with this? How am I meant to...what do you think I know about raising kids?"

"Lauren, you need to calm down." Gia told her. "This can't be good for..."

"Yeah, it can't be good for the baby." She agreed.

"I was actually going to say this can't be good for either of you." Gia corrected her. "I know the baby's important in all this, but you're not exactly separate concerns in all of this. What happens to one of you happens to the other right now. If you're flipping out like this, how do you think the baby feels?"

"You don't understand, neither of you do, this isn't any other baby." She told them. "This child, my child is the heir to the Shiba bloodline. The next Shogun."

"Yeah, we know..."

"No, you don't get it. There are a lot of expectations surrounding this." She told them. "I know the Nighlock have been sealed away, I know that there's not the same chance we'll be called back into action, but...but a lot of people still have certain expectations for the Shogun."

"Who cares what anyone else thinks?" Emma asked her. "It's your baby!"

"Wait...you keep saying you, and I...does Jeremy even know about this?" Gia asked her. Lauren didn't need to answer, the way she looked at the girls gave them the answer they needed. "Lauren!"

"Don't you think he has a right to know about this?" Emma asked her.

"I...I don't..." Lauren started to stammer. "I don't know what to do..."

"Lauren, he's the father!" Emma reminded her. "It's not like you waved your Samuraizer and ended up pregnant! He does kind of have a part to play in this!"

"He never asked for this! He didn't want to have kids yet!" Lauren reminded them. "Hell, I didn't either, we're both still at uni! He has months to go on his degree!"

"Well, to be fair you didn't ask for this either." Emma reminded her. "Sometimes things happen that you just don't plan for."

"I just...I don't know how I'm going to deal with this." Lauren admitted. "I lost my parents, I was raised by servants, what do I know about raising kids?"

"What does anyone know about raising kids?" Gia asked in response. "You know, I like to think I've been a good kid. I didn't really get into much trouble, or go out of my way to get myself into danger, but I know I've given mom more than a few grey hairs in her time. In all honesty, if anyone really knew how much work having kids was, I'm not sure anyone would have them!"

"Thanks, that's really comforting!" Lauren grumbled.

"I think what Gia's trying to say is...I don't think anyone really knows how to deal with kids. I think it's just something people learn as they go." Emma assured her. "I can tell you one thing for free though. As much as I love my dad, and as close as we are, there are some things I just now I missed out on after mom died."

She moved a bit closer, and smiled at Lauren, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I know the Shiba clan have more money than God, and I'm perfectly sure you'll have no shortage of people willing to help you raise the kid, but if you can, but Jeremy should be a part of this, and I think you know that." Emma told her. "I missed out on a lot after mom died...in some ways that's one of the reasons Gia and I are so close. But I know if you can, a kid does better with both parents in the picture."

Just then, their morphers bleeped. The door opened, and Troy came in.

"Guys, Matacore's back." Troy told them. "He's in the forest, apparently he's been walking around for a couple of hours...I think he must be looking for the Tengen Gate."

"OK Lauren, just...try to be calm and we'll...we'll be back as soon as we can." Emma told her. As they ran out, heading through the yard, Gia just looked to Emma.

"So...you're saying you thought of me as a replacement mom?" Gia asked her. Emma just looked a little nervous.

"Uh...kind of?" She replied. "You were the next closest female role model I had."

"Yeah, let's say it that way from now on." Gia said grumpily.

Meanwhile, out in the forest, Matacore was wandering around with a group of X-borgs, having been sent back to Earth to avenge the Prince's injury. He was growing more and more impatient looking for the Rangers. He knew they'd come out here, and he had found a trail that he presumed was theirs, but no matter how long he followed it, he didn't seem to be getting anywhere.

He pulled out a handset and checked it, growling in frustration.

"We're still in the same place!" He yelled. "We've been walking around in circles!"

He threw down his handset in anger. Just as he did this, the Rangers arrived from down the path, appearing as though from nowhere. He rounded on them as his X-borgs formed up around him.

"Rangers!" He declared. "You will pay for hurting the Prince's honour!"

"Honour?" Noah asked, having to try hard not to laugh.

"Yes! You will pay dearly for injuring Prince Vekar!" He declared. "Especially you Blue Ranger!"

"He barely touched him!" Jake reminded him. "As soon as we brought our weapons out, he ran away!"

"Yeah, maybe if your precious Prince doesn't like getting hurt, he shouldn't go around starting fights." Emma suggested. "If you stick your nose where it doesn't belong, you don't really have a right to complain when it gets broken."

"Whatever!" He snapped. "I will uphold the Prince's reputation and ruin yours!"

"He can't be real smart if he works for that prince." Troy said, shaking his head in disbelief. "Let's take him down!"

They rushed into battle, morphing as they went, and started to carve their way through them. Jake managed to find a way through to Matacore, pulling out his Megaforce key as he went.

"Hey, I have an axe to grind with you!" Jake called out, swinging his Snake Axe for him. Matacore blocked the strike, but just as Jake had intended, the Axe's greater weight sent him skidding. He could tell that Jake's Snake Axe had a lot of power behind it, but as he went for him, he could tell that Jake wouldn't be enough to take him down by himself.

Things only got steadily worse for the Rangers as more X-borgs flooded into the area. It seemed like Prince Vekar had seen the battle and was giving Matacore the best chance he could. As Jake hit a tree, and got back to his feet, his Megaforce Key lost the last of its power.

"None of our modes last long enough." Jake told the others. "We can't hold any Legend mode long enough..."

"Wait, that's it!" Emma called across.

"What?" Jake asked.

"We don't use one mode!" She suggested. "We keep switching it up! We don't give anyone time to figure out the next attack!"

"It's worth a shot!" Troy replied, pulling out the Red Overdrive Key. "Ranger Blitz! Operation Overdrive!"

He started to run through X-borgs, slashing through them as he went.

"Ninja Storm!" Noah called out, activating his Blue Ninja Storm Key. He activated a shadow battle, hacking down a number of others.

Matacore took on Emma and Gia, who were both in their respective Mighty Morphin' modes, keeping him busy while the guys dealt with the rest of the robots. He managed to knock both of them back as the last of their power failed them.

"Wild Force!" They all called out together as the guys finally joined them. Troy formed up the Wild Sword as they all grabbed onto him, lending him their strength.

"I hope this works, Savage Slash!" He cried, powering up the blade. Matacore prepared for the strike as he saw it coming. He blocked the strike, before reflecting the power back at them, scattering the Rangers.

"Come on, what else is it going to take to beat this guy?" Troy snarled.

"Maybe it'll just take the right keys!" They heard someone scream as a jet of flame flew overhead. It struck Matacore full in the face, blinding him momentarily. As they all turned around, they saw Lauren running towards them.

"Lauren!" Gia screamed. "But...you can't be here! It's not safe!"

"It's not going to be safe anywhere." Lauren told them. "Besides, I guess...I guess the one thing I should have learned from all this is that you can't run from your problems. They have a habit of catching up to you eventually."

"Lauren, please, you have to get back to the Gate..."

"Not before I lend a hand." Lauren told them. She reached into her pocket, and pulled out the Samurai Ranger keys, which started to glow in her hand.

"But...he's too strong." Noah told her. "One more set of keys..."

"It's not just any set of keys though, it's the right set of keys!" Lauren told them, reaching into another pocket. She pulled out a white power disk. "This is the Double Disk, it belonged to my dad. It'll temporarily double the power of whoever uses it."

"Alright, thanks Lauren." Troy answered as they took the keys, looking to Matacore as they prepared the Samurai Keys. "Go Go Samurai!"

The entire team took on their Samurai Modes, rushing into the battle with Matacore. Years of knowledge flooded into them from their first morph, allowing them to fight with the skill and ferocity of the team they represented. Lauren just sat on the ground, crossing her arms grumpily.

"Yeah, that's fair." She grumbled. "It's not like it took me fifteen years to learn to fight like that or anything, of course it's perfectly fair they learn that in fifteen seconds!"

Matacore struggled against the whole team. Each of them was strong on their own, but just as he was about to deal with one, another would intervene. They were each able to inflict some damage, before backing off and letting another take the lead.

"Troy, do it now!" Jake called out. "Use the Double Disk Lauren gave us!"

"Alright, Fire Smasher!" Jayden yelled, slamming in the double disk. Before he knew what was happening, another Fire Smasher appeared in his other hand, and his body was flooded with all the energy he needed to wield both of the massive weapons simultaneously. "Double Disk!"

He rushed at Matacore, who could only try and block the incoming attack. It was completely in vain though as the heavy weapons smashed straight through his guard, shattering his sword, before the second sliced straight through him. With an almighty scream, he fell face-first to the ground, and exploded. The team powered down into Corsair mode as Lauren rushed over to them in delight.

"That was amazing!" Lauren called out. "I'd maybe have preferred if one of the girls had been Red for this one, but other than that...you guys were amazing!"

"OK, I don't think this is over yet." Jake commented as they saw a beam coming down from orbit, striking the ground where Matacore had fallen. A few giant bruisers appeared around him as he grew to massive size, towering over the forest.

"Lauren, we need to deal with this." Emma told her as the Red Galleon flew into view, and the Rangers hooked lines on it, heading onto it as they started to form up the Megazord. Lauren stood, watching on. She didn't notice as someone approached her from behind, placing a hand on her shoulder. She reacted quickly, launching the new arrival over her shoulder onto the ground painfully. As she saw him, she immediately realised she had made a mistake.

"Jeremy!" She screamed, offering him a hand to help him up.

"Wow...um...I guess I forgot you do that." Jeremy groaned as he rubbed his neck. "Maybe I shouldn't try to be all cute and surprise you."

"What...what are you doing here?" She asked him. "How did...?"

"Maybe now isn't the best time or place to discuss it." He suggested, taking her hand. "Come on, we should probably get to a safe distance."

Back at the site of the Zord battle, the Rangers had called up the Red Lion Zord, and joined with him for more power. Knowing how much power Matacore had, they needed to use all the power they had at their disposal. The Megazord rushed through the ranks of the Bruisers, cutting them down.

"Mega Roar!" They chorused together, activating the attack. As the energy surge flew at Matacore, he took the blast full on, and it seemed to burn him painfully, but by the time the energy dissipated, he was still standing. He launched an attack straight back at them.

"Man, that guy is tough!" Noah commented. "That was the best shot we had!"

"Maybe not." Troy answered as their Samurai Ranger Keys started to glow. They activated the keys, at which the Red Lion changed configuration, forming a more humanoid Megazord. A Samurai Helmet appeared on the Megazord's head as its two sabres formed into a sword staff.

"Now THIS is what I call a Megazord!" Jake declared proudly. "Not that I don't think the Red Lion is awesome, but this is a great Samurai Surprise!"

"Really?" Gia asked, looking at him sceptically.

"Hey, winning's my job!" Matacore yelled. "I've been conquering worlds for..."

He was interrupted as the Rangers hacked him down with their blade.

"It's time we finished this before he causes any more harm." Troy called out.

"Legendary Fire Smasher!" They all called out as a Fire Smasher larger than a skyscraper appeared in the Megazord's hand. Matacore saw the weapon and just seemed to cower before it. "Samurai Strike!"

As they swung it, the weapon crushed straight through him, destroying him in a massive fireball. Troy just smiled.

"Those new Samurai powers were AWESOME!" Gia declared.

"We definitely kicked some monster tail today." Jake added.

"We sure did." Emma replied. "Now, let's get back to the temple. There's one more thing we have to deal with."


	13. A New Shogun

Following the battle, on The Armada Command Ship, Prince Vekar was watching the monitor with a stunned look on his face, or at least what could be seen of it under the masses of heavy dressings he had insisted his physician put on his "injury". Noah had only broken his nose, but the way Prince Vekar had reacted; anyone would have been forgiven for thinking that he had completely caved in his skull. The physician had felt it was safest to humour him and gave him all the treatments and pain medication he wanted within safe limits. He wasn't about to risk the repercussions for suggesting he was over-reacting to a minor injury.

The Prince re-wound the final moments yet again, re-running it over and over again. Lavira, Damaras and Argus all flinched, watching the massive fireball that was all that remained of Matacore flare up each time.

"Your Highness..."

"They defeated an Elite Guard!" Prince Vekar interrupted Lavira as he gestured wildly to the screen. "THEY DEFEATED AN ELITE GUARD!"

"I always believed their reputation to be inflated boss." Argus stated bluntly.

"How could they defeat an Elite Guard?" He screamed, looking around the room.

"Your Highness, they caught him unawares." Lavira told him. "Matacore was powerful, but he was also arrogant. I believe he underestimated the Rangers and their weaponry."

"Yes, their weapons!" Prince Vekar snapped angrily, hurling the hand-set at the main viewing screen, shattering the hand-set. Lavira just sighed and reached into a box which had more waiting. It was hardly the first time Prince Vekar had such a tantrum. "Those Rangers have all those amazing weapons, and just seem to get more whenever they need them! I thought destroying Eltar was meant to stop them getting more weapons and powers!"

"Your Highness, you should not get this overwrought." Argus warned him. "There will be other days and other battles. You must take this time to recover your strength."

"Yes, of course, they take advantage of me while I am injured! Of course I was not fit to direct a victory after the Blue Ranger disfigured me! It's a testament to my greatness I'm even out of the infirmary!" He declared, causing all of his War Counsel to just look away, trying to find ways not to give away exactly how they felt about this ridiculous remark. "I will go to my chambers and rest. In the meantime perhaps one of you can find a Commander that will not fail me as your last one did!"

As he stormed out of the room, Argus just looked to Lavira.

"Summoning Matacore was his idea." Argus stated. "As was going into battle himself."

"Come Argus." She sighed, taking a recording of the battle. "Perhaps with some analysis, we might teach ourselves how to combat the Rangers' latest addition to their arsenal."

As they left, Damaras just sat, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"Their weapons." He commented, thinking about what Prince Vekar had said. "Perhaps...You there!"

He pointed to one of the X-borg crew on the bridge.

"Summon me if anything changes on long-range scans." He instructed it. "Until then, you have the bridge."

Meanwhile, back at the Tengen Gate, the Rangers returned after the battle, having sent the Red Galleon into hiding once more. They got back, finding the attendants performing their duties, seeing to the gardens and suchlike. Daisuke was standing waiting on them, a broad smile crossing his face.

"Your battle was impressive." He complimented them as they arrived. "You all exhibited all the heart and courage of true Samurai. You should all be very proud."

"Coming from you, we're going to have to take that as a compliment." Gia said with a smile.

"Where's Lauren?" Emma asked. "We looked for her, but she wasn't around. Did she...?"

"Lauren's in her room." They heard a familiar voice saying. They all looked over to a bench a little way off. They all smiled to see Jayden and Antonio sitting on a bench.

"Antonio!" They all rushed out, rushing over to greet the Gold Rangers. It had been a long time since their respective teams had last met. Jayden had still been on his campaign to repeal proposition 8 at the time, and so they hadn't met him really, but Antonio had showed them plenty of pictures, so they knew who Jayden was. "Jayden, you guys are here?"

"Yeah, we came. We saw your battle." Jayden told them. "You guys are really good. I can see why Lauren spoke so highly of you."

"How did you get here so quickly?" Noah asked. "I thought Lauren never told you..."

"Daisuke called us when he was sure Lauren was settled." Jayden explained. "We travelled by Symbol Power."

"You'll have to excuse him." Antonio said as he put his arm around Jayden, who was still sitting hunched over on the bench, looking completely exhausted. "Using symbol power to transport people takes a lot out of him."

"It's why we prefer to travel by more conventional means if we can." Jayden confirmed. "Even short jumps around town were difficult. Transporting three people from Panorama to Kyoto...that's kind of like running around the globe three or four times."

"Three people?" Jake asked.

"We brought Jeremy along with us." Antonio told them. "We figured if anyone would get Lauren to stop running and come home, it'd be him."

"So where are they?" Emma asked.

"They're in Lauren's room." Antonio told them. "We thought it would be best to give them a little privacy."

"My sister's not really the type that does well having serious talks in front of large groups." Jayden told them.

"Yeah, I kind of got that." Gia replied.

"So, in the meantime, how about we all get caught up?" Emma asked. "You guys are married now!"

"Yup, we are indeed!" Antonio said proudly, holding Jayden. "We had the ceremony shortly after they repealed Prop 8!"

"Do you have any pictures?" Emma rushed out. "How was the ceremony? Did you have a great honeymoon? How about...?"

"Whoa, there Emma!" Troy teased her, clamping a hand over his girlfriend's mouth. "You might want to let them answer one question before you bombard them with any more."

"I believe you may all be more comfortable moving this through to the dining chamber." Daisuke suggested. "I believe that dinner is..."

He was interrupted as Jake rushed past him, sprinting away. The others all laughed.

"You just said the magic words." Noah told him.

"Now, if I let go, do you promise to hold the questions until we're at the dining hall?" Troy asked. Emma just nodded. With that, they all headed towards the dining hall, planning to catch up on their latest news.

In her room, Lauren was sitting on the bed, staring at Jeremy. She knew he wasn't happy with her for running off. In fact, all things considered he was probably livid, but that wasn't Jeremy's way. He was always a quiet and restrained kind of guy. When she had seen him, he hadn't thought to yell at her. He hadn't thought to express how angry he was that she had run off without telling him where she was going, or even to say anything about the fact that she had left the country without a word. All he did was take her to her room, make sure she was alright, and ask her why she did it.

Lauren had taken quite some time to relay the tale. She had a habit of babbling when she was nervous, and there was a lot of the story to tell anyway. From the time she had suspected that something was off, to when she had seen a box with a spare pregnancy test in Serena's bathroom from when she was going through the surrogacy treatments for Mike and Emily and had taken it to try out when she was on her own, right up until the moment she had completely flipped out in her bathroom when the test had confirmed she was pregnant.

Jeremy just continued to look at her, not saying a word as she told him how she had completely lost it, finding out that the precautions they had been taking hadn't worked. She had panicked when she realised that she was going to be having a child, and how she didn't know how to break the news to all of the people that had expectations of her and her responsibility to continue her bloodline, or to Jeremy.

"I just...I don't have any idea what to do about this." Lauren told him. "I don't know the first thing about kids. I just panicked!"

She looked to Jeremy, feeling completely ashamed of her actions.

"I don't know what I was thinking; I don't even think I was thinking!" She explained. "I know I wasn't thinking. I guess, I guess I just thought about my own upbringing. I guess I just figured that if I was surrounded by attendants, that someone would know what the baby needed. Then it wouldn't matter how badly I screwed up."

She just looked to Jeremy as he continued to watch her.

"Jeremy, please say something." She begged him. Eventually, he just came over, sitting on the bed with her.

"I'm going to be a dad?" He asked her. She just nodded as he started to let the information sink in, to try to process all the information he had heard. "We're...we're having a baby?"

"You're not mad about this?" She asked him.

"Lauren...I'm not happy that you ran off when you found out about this, we're meant to deal with stuff like this together!" He told her, taking her hands softly in his. "I'm not happy about that, but I love you."

"I'm sorry, it's just...we never planned for this." Lauren told him. "We were being so careful; we took so many precautions..."

"Lauren, sometimes they don't work." He reminded her. "It was a small chance, but there was always a chance this might happen. There was only one way we could guarantee this wouldn't happen. It's not like I can claim innocence here, I was kind of involved."

"Jeremy, we're both still in university. I don't want you to quit." She told him. "I don't want you to resent me or the baby for..."

"Lauren, you seem to forget, it's not exactly like we're destitute here." He chuckled. "If I don't want to quit, I don't have to. Hell, you don't either! We're starting off at a better place than a lot of couples in our situation."

"Sure, we can afford stuff, but what does that matter?" Lauren grumbled. "I don't know anything about raising kids."

"Lauren, I haven't talked to my dad in almost three years, it's not like I've got the best example of parenthood to fall back on either." He reminded her. "I'm not saying it'll be easy, but I don't think it's ever easy. We'll figure it out. We'll learn."

"I'm just afraid I'm going to be a horrible mom." Lauren told him. He just smiled.

"Well, I'm sure you can get plenty of practice." He told her. "You forget that you do have two friends who have three kids between them that can help you out. Emily and Mia would be only too happy to give you pointers on things. Lauren, we're not going to be doing this alone. You couldn't keep your brother or your friends away from this, and I'm sure Ji's going to want to get in on the action too. He is kind of the grandfather."

He pulled closer, kissing her softly.

"More than anything, more importantly than all of that, I love you." He assured her. "And when the baby comes, I'll love him, or her. I want to be a part of this."

Lauren just leaned in, holding him tightly.

"I don't know how you ever put up with me this long." She told him honestly.

"I don't put up with you." He told her. "I just couldn't be with anyone else, and I just couldn't see myself with any other family."

"Family." Lauren replied with a smile. "I...I like the sound of that."

"So, I know that might have been how you were raised, but, how about we give the attendants a miss?" He asked her. "I'd like us to raise our own kid."

"But what if we...?"

"All parents screw up." He assured her. "That's just part of being parents. We're going to screw up, but we're going to deal with it together."

Lauren just threw herself into his arms again, letting him hold her tightly. Jeremy couldn't help smiling. While this was far from what he had planned for this point in his life, he couldn't help feeling like this was the life he'd always wanted.

Over in the dining room, the Rangers were catching up with Antonio and Jayden as they ate. Antonio had brought out a laptop, and was showing them pictures of the rest of the team and their new families.

"Mike and Emily have really got the farm up and running." Antonio told them. "They're expecting to turn their first profit this season. Not to mention Hector really seems to love it there."

"He's so adorable!" Emma gushed, looking at the picture of Emily and Mike, proudly displaying their new son in front of the farm they now owned. "How's Serena?"

"She loves being an aunt." Jayden assured her. "I guess being a surrogate; she naturally feels a bond to the little guy."

"I guess nine months and a delivery will do that." Gia commented. "I still can't believe she went through that for them. I don't know if I could do that for anyone."

"Mia and Kevin are pretty busy with the twins." Jayden told them. "Kevin seems to really love coaching now. For a while we thought he might miss competing, but as soon as he realised how much more time he got with the girls, I don't think there was ever an issue of him giving up."

"They look so happy." Noah said with a smile as he saw a picture of the two families on a day out together. "It looks like retirement really suits you all."

"It has its benefits." Jayden agreed. "You guys look pretty good out there."

"We've all come a long way from the beginning." Troy admitted. "Noah especially."

"I'll say he has, you're not the scrawny little kid I remember!" Antonio complimented him, grabbing one of Noah's arms. "I don't remember all those muscles, you're pretty cut!"

Jayden just arched an eyebrow, at which Antonio just put an arm around him.

"Oh, come on, you're not the jealous type." He teased his husband. "I'm allowed to give a guy a compliment right?"

"I have to admit, you are all pretty good." Jayden reiterated. "I'd really love to run you through a few drills before you go."

"We'd really love that too." Troy answered. "Unfortunately, we really don't have a lot of time. After this, I doubt Prince Vekar's going to let up."

"I think that's a pretty safe bet." Antonio answered as he turned the laptop towards them. "He's increased the bounty on all of you...you especially Noah."

They all looked to the new adverts, checking out the rewards.

"Hey Jake, how does it feel to be the bottom again?" Gia chuckled.

"Aw man, why am I always the bottom of the heap?" Jake complained.

"Fifteen million's nothing to be ashamed of." Jayden told him.

"Twenty million for each of us!" Gia said as she grabbed Emma in a tight hug. "They love us, they really love us!"

"Yeah, that's why they put twenty million dollars on each of our heads." Emma said sarcastically. "Troy's up to thirty million, and Noah..."

"Oh, HELL YES!" Noah yelled out excitedly, jumping up and punching the air. "In your face Vekar!"

"Noah's beating out Troy?" Jake complained. "Not fair! Just because he hit him and made him cry like a baby!"

"Thirty five million?" Troy complained. "That's...that's not fair! I'm the Red guy! I'm meant to be the one everyone wants!"

"Oh, don't be such a bad loser." Noah replied, patting him on the back, still revelling in his moment. This was the first time any member of the team had a higher bounty than Troy. Noah's attack on Prince Vekar had obviously provoked a reaction.

"Well, look who it is!" Gia called out as Jeremy and Lauren walked back in, holding each other warmly. "So, how's our favourite fugitive?"

"I'm feeling more than a little silly." Lauren admitted. "I'm really sorry about running off like that. I'm really sorry I made you all worry."

"We're not angry; we were just worried about you." Jayden assured her. "I thought we were past this. What made you run off like that? You know you can talk to me about anything."

"Well, I really hope you feel like that in a moment." Jeremy sighed, taking half a step behind Lauren. "There are no weapons lying around are there?"

"OK, what gives?" Jayden asked.

"We...um...we have something to tell you." Lauren replied. "We're having a baby."

"And...I think that's our cue to leave." Troy answered, seeing the look on Jayden's face. We have a long journey ahead of us."

"We loved catching up!" Emma called back as the team hurriedly got their things together. "Congratulations Lauren thanks for the Ranger Keys!"

As they left, Jayden was decidedly quiet. The Corsair Rangers missed their families dreadfully, but at times like this, they had to think that at times like this, sometimes it wasn't the worst thing in the world they missed out on moments like this.

Back on The Armada Command Ship, Damaras finally found the Commander he was looking for. As he severed the communications link, he turned around to see Argus standing in the doorway.

"An unsanctioned communication was detected from this room." He stated.

"There is no mystery; I was just contacting one of our Commanders." Damaras told him. "I think I have an idea how to defeat the Rangers."

"Why have you not run this past Prince Vekar?" He asked.

"I thought he would be best served resting for now." He answered. "He did however give me an idea. The Rangers have managed to defeat us with their impressive arsenal. They always seem to find a new and powerful weapon any time we escalate our arsenal."

"I fail to see your point." Argus told him. Damaras just looked to him, tenting his fingers.

"What if they have to fight without those weapons?" Damaras asked. "What if those weapons are taken from them?"

Argus looked to a console and saw the image of the Commander in it. He just nodded in understanding.

"Pacha Chamak" He answered. "When will he be here?"

"He's already on his way." Damaras answered.

Meanwhile, back on the Red Galleon, the Rangers were all gathered around Tensou, who was facing away from them. It wasn't much, but he found at least if he didn't see the blow coming, then it didn't seem quite so bad. Gia gulped as she held onto a large, wooden mallet, lining up with his head.

"Come on Gia, all of us have done it." Troy told her.

"Yeah, I...I really don't want to." Gia answered. "Can't I just volunteer to clean the ship for a month if someone else takes my turn?"

"Gia, we all agreed." Emma told her.

"Yeah, I know it's just...I really don't want to!" Gia told them, putting the mallet down. She couldn't help glancing over to the corner where the Mr Brainfreeze costume was waiting. "Please, I'm not ready..."

"Gia, you can't be the only one that never did this." Jake told her, picking up the mallet. "Come on, we've all done it."

"Yeah, it's no big deal." Noah chimed in. "Go on, just do it."

"Do it! Do it!" They all chorused together. Closing her eyes, Gia just let out a huge cry and brought the mallet down, smashing Tensou over the head. She clamped her hands over her eyes as the others scrambled to start a recorder.

"The Cliff by the Ocean, in the house of the wild,  
Find the Red Master, the Tiger's Child."

"Ok, that one was shorter than normal." Noah remarked.

"It was also pretty simple." Jake replied. "Gia, it sounds like we're going to see a fellow tiger!"

"Tensou, are you alright?" Troy asked.

"I'll be fine." He grumbled.

"Then set a course for Ocean Bluff." Troy told him. "In the meantime, Gia, you know what comes next!"

"Please, do I have to?" She asked. Jake just thrust the costume into her arms.

"We've all done it." He reminded her. "You wouldn't want to disappoint us would you?"

"Go on Gia, do it!" Emma chuckled. Realising that she wasn't getting out of this just sighed and went to get changed.


	14. Pacha Chamak

The Rangers had a lot of time to kill. While the Red Galleon was fast, it still took a fair bit of time to fly from Kyoto to California. It was times like this they normally killed with some training, research or even sleep, but none of that was happening now. The room was filled with laughter.

Gia just stood, sulking with her arms crossed grumpily in the Mr Brainfreeze mascot costume as Emma took photos and the others laughed at her expense. Even Jordan had reappeared, taking some time out from his studies in The Library to take in the image of Gia in the hideous mascot outfit.

"Will you guys knock it off? It isn't funny!" Gia moaned as she was forced to model for the pictures they were taking for posterity. If the picture she and Emma had printed in the newspaper a year ago when they found the Magnus Bloomus Annulus hadn't wrecked her 'tough girl' image, then these pictures most definitely would. As the cherry fell off the top, hanging by a thread, Jake just stepped forward, placing it back in place.

"Oh come on Gia, we've all had to do it." Jake reminded her.

"All except ghost boy here!" She snapped, gesturing to Jordan. He just held up his hands. "It's his fault we have to hit Tensou anyway! If he'd programmed him properly..."

"Hey, I'd wear the outfit if I could, but...you know...no corporeal form remember?" He chuckled. Gia picked up a gold goblet from the table, throwing it straight through Jordan's head. It was a pointless gesture since he was just an apparition, but then that was why she knew it wouldn't hurt him. He just looked to where the goblet clattered on the floor, then back to her, with a disappointed look on his face. "Do you know how much a museum would pay for that? It's an authentic..."

"I don't care if it's an antique! You're lucky you're not really here!" Gia said bad-temperedly. "And good God this suit stinks! Have you guys been crapping in it or what?"

"You know we don't have any way to wash it." Noah giggled. "Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if you hadn't been ducking your turn for so long."

Gia just checked her watch, before looking to them.

"Well yuck it up, because my hour is over." She snapped, starting to head out of the room. The others just continued laughing as she left.

"I so wish we could put these up on the Harwood Social Hub." Noah commented.

"Yeah, as strange as it sounds, I kind of miss High School." Jake replied. He suddenly shuddered. "Wow, I never thought I'd say that."

"Hey, at least Casey shouldn't be too hard to find." Troy reminded them. "At least this time we know where to start looking."

"Yeah, follow Jake's nose to the freshly made pizza." Emma teased the Green Ranger. His face slipped into a dreamy look, and they could almost imagine him drooling just at the thought. "I'm sure RJ will know where he hangs out these days."

"Say, do you think the Ranger hospitality extends to free pizza?" He asked them. The others just laughed. Emma poked him in the stomach playfully.

"I'll never know how you manage to eat so much and never put on a pound." She told him. He just shrugged.

"I'm just lucky I guess." He answered. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some wonderful daydreams to get back to."

Up on The Armada Command Ship, Damaras was standing at a docking port as Argus arrived.

"I received your message." Argus stated. "Why have you summoned me here?"

"He should be arriving any moment." Damaras explained. Argus just stared at him, more than a little confused.

"Then why do I need to be here?" He asked. "You cannot oversee an arrival by yourself?"

"Well, if you don't want me to do this favour for you then..."

"Favour?" Argus asked. His curiosity was piqued. Not only was it not like Damaras to do anything for anyone without it somehow benefitting him, he also wasn't entirely sure what he considered a favour.

"Well, I thought perhaps you might want to make up your failure to the Prince." Damaras answered.

"Failure?" Argus asked.

"You were tasked with defending him on the battlefield." Damaras reminded him. "How did that go again?"

"The Prince's injury was NOT my fault!" Argus insisted. Damaras just laughed.

"Do you think the Prince will see it that way?" He asked, pacing around him. "The great Argus, master of the sword, the legendary general was unable to stop a teenager from gravely injuring our Prince? Tell me, how do you really think he feels about that?"

Argus just dipped his head. The Prince had already verbally torn strips off him for the incident. He blamed everyone for failing him, but Argus had been the one standing between him and the Blue Ranger when he was hurt. He had been spared harsher punishments simply because he was such a powerful general and had won Prince Vekar many worlds, and so was still useful, but he could still feel the stinging humiliation of the Prince's reprimand in front of the entire War Counsel.

"What do you suggest?" Argus asked him.

"You know how powerful Pacha Chamak is." Damaras told him. "Thanks to your eavesdropping, you know of my plan. You must be able to see the wisdom in it."

"Your strategy is sound." Argus conceded. "How does this affect me?"

"I will allow you to take the credit for this strategy." Damaras told him as there was a loud clunk, and the mechanism for coupling a transport vehicle activated. Some white gas vented as the transport vehicle activated its air lock. "I will allow you to present Pacha Chamak to The Prince and tell him this was your idea."

"Why would you do this?" Argus asked him. "What is in it for you?" Damaras just placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Just...remember this if I ever need a favour." He told him. Just then, the door opened, and a Commander stepped out. He was slightly taller than Argus, and had golden armour across his upper body and shoulders, with a gigantic pair of golden, open hands on either shoulder. He had a deep, blue face with four burning red eyes. He bowed to his superiors as he entered.

"Pacha Chamak, your reputation precedes you." Damaras greeted him.

"It is an honour to be called by His Highness, Prince Vekar." He replied. Damaras just gestured to Argus.

"I will leave you in Argus' care." He stated. "Perhaps you wish to..."

"With all respect, I have prepared myself on my journey." Pacha Chamak replied. "I would like to seek an audience with the Prince as soon as he is willing to receive me."

"I appreciate your enthusiasm." Damaras replied. "Argus?"

Argus knew that Damaras was probably up to something, but right now he couldn't figure out what, and he couldn't afford not to take any opportunity to curry favour with the Prince. He just gestured down the hall.

"Follow me." He stated. Pacha Chamak followed him as he went. Damaras just watched them go with a feeling of satisfaction. Things were shaping up exactly as he had intended.

It was early morning in Ocean Bluff; the sun was only just starting to come up over the horizon. RJ was always up at this time, trolling the markets for ingredients for the day ahead.

He was always very particular about his produce. Everything had to be organic, fair trade, as much as possible sourced locally, and most importantly, it had to be produced ethically. He was always at the markets in time for the farmers, fishermen and butchers to just be setting up their latest wares to make sure he got the first pick of the freshest and highest quality produce. A few other restaurants sent their chefs to do the same thing, but then again, most of those places were five-star restaurants that charged upwards of fifty dollars a plate. He ran a pizza parlour, but he was no less exacting in his standards, which was the reason Jungle Karma was easily considered the best and most popular pizza place in the city.

Lily wasn't quite so keen on the early starts, and had long since made it clear she would leave that side of things to RJ in exchange for an extra couple of hours in bed. He made his way through the stalls, checking out the goods available. He was inspecting the bananas at one stall, making sure that they were all up to his standard.

"They're straight off the boat a couple of hours ago." The vendor assured him. RJ just smiled as he saw them. He just pulled out his credit card, handing it over as he started loading up his hemp shopping bag with all he would need for the day. "You know, you buy so much, I'm sure you could get a better deal..."

"Yeah, but I'd not get this quality." RJ interrupted him as he ran up the sale. "Now if you'll excuse me, there's a man I see some salmon over there that has my name on it."

After a while, once he had loaded up his van, he made his way back to JKP, humming a tune contentedly as he went. He arrived, finding some people standing outside the restaurant. He furrowed his brows as he saw them, bringing the van to a halt. As he got out, he approached cautiously.

"It's a little early for pizza." He stated. "I haven't even heated the ovens yet."

"Sorry, the time-difference was a pain." Troy answered as he turned around. The other Rangers did the same. RJ's face lit up as he saw them, remembering when he and his team had helped them out with the Toxic Mutants the previous year.

"Hey guys! It's great to see you!" He greeted them, coming over and starting to hug each of them in turn, before a thought occurred to him and he backed off. "No one saw you did they? You are worth..."

"Yeah, we were careful." Emma assured him. "But maybe we should move this inside?"

"Sure, that sounds like a good idea." RJ agreed, gesturing to the van. "Would you mind helping me get this stuff in?"

"No problem." Noah answered as they started to gather boxes. "Wow, this stuff looks great!"

"The markets around here are pretty amazing." RJ assured them as they made their way inside, setting down the boxes. "But something tells me you didn't come here to talk about my ingredients or order pizza. I'm guessing this is something to do with our shared pastime?"

"It is." Jake answered. "We...we were wondering if you could tell us where we could find Casey?"

"Casey?" RJ asked them.

"We think he has something we need." Troy explained. He pulled out a Ranger Key, and showed it to RJ. "We're searching for these. There's one for each set of Ranger Powers there's been."

"Tensou told us that the Jungle Fury keys are with Casey." Gia explained.

"Well, you can see Casey at work, he works at the zoo. He'll be starting there in a couple of hours." RJ told them.

"The zoo?" Emma asked. "I thought he was Headmaster at the...?"

"Yeah, he is...but that's really more of a vocation than a career. It doesn't pay." RJ explained. "He still likes to spend time in town, and he kind of needs a little paper to do that."

"I guess that makes sense." Jake commented.

"He'll be there in a couple of hours; he usually sets up for opening time." RJ told them. "In the meantime, is anyone hungry?"

Jake launched himself at him, hugging him tightly. RJ just wheezed as his breath was crushed out of him.

"I'll...take that as a yes!" He choked out, trying to pry himself from Jake's arms. "I'll go start up the ovens."

Back up on The Armada Command Ship, Prince Vekar was sitting on the bridge, his face still bandaged up like a mummy. If anything, his dressings seemed to get even heavier and more elaborate each time he appeared. He was groaning as he watched the viewing screens looking for signs of the Rangers as an X-borg held an ice-pack to his head, but by now it was more liquid than ice. He grabbed it, ripping it from the X-borg's hand, throwing it across the room.

"More ice!" He screamed petulantly. Lavira just sighed, reaching into a box by her work station and pulled out another ice pack, throwing it over her shoulder to the X-borg by his side. The Prince was still going on about his injury like he was lucky to be alive; despite the fact everyone knew all too well that he was absolutely fine. Sure, his nose was broken, but he seemed to be a lot more concerned with his bruised ego, and so he had to take every opportunity to remind everyone how he had been wounded in battle by the Rangers. "Where are they? Why is this taking so long?"

"Their cloaking technology is very advanced." Lavira reminded him, seemingly for the millionth time. "As soon as we find something..."

"I can see them now, laughing at me! Mocking me like a weakling! Nobody laughs at Prince Vekar!" He screamed. Lavira just hid her eyes with her hand and shook her head. Obviously the Prince didn't know what was said behind closed doors, even on his own ship. Just then, Argus walked in.

"Boss, as you ordered, a new Commander has arrived to battle the Rangers." Argus greeted him. Prince Vekar turned to look at the new arrival as Argus stepped aside.

"Greetings your Highness." Pacha Chamak greeted him with a respectful bow. Despite the instincts of his training, he looked to the floor, trying not to look at Vekar's bandaged face. Argus had explained about the battle, and warned him about the Prince's reaction. "I am Pacha Chamak."

"What? Pacha...Backpack?" The Prince asked, stumbling over the name, not noticing Damaras arriving by a door on the opposite side. He had taken the long way around to distance himself from Pacha Chamak and Argus in order to keep up the pretence it was Argus' idea to bring him in. "What kind of a ridiculous name is that?"

Pacha Chamak didn't say anything out of respect. He didn't appreciate the Prince getting his name wrong, especially given his accomplishments in his name, but then he had to admit finding it hard to take him seriously given the way he was reacting to a broken nose.

"Pacha Chamak, I've heard of him." Damaras stated. "He is a notorious warrior who has never been defeated!"

"Undefeated eh?" Prince Vekar asked.

"Really." Lavira responded, looking between Argus and Damaras. She had also heard of Pacha Chamak, but couldn't remember Argus ever mentioning him or talking about him. She had her doubts it was his idea.

"Yes, his hand-to-hand combat skills can overpower any enemy." Argus informed him, giving the Prince the brief he had gotten from Damaras.

"Including the Rangers." Pacha Chamak added. "Your Highness, it will be an honour to defeat them and avenge your...er...injury."

"Many have claimed they could defeat the Power Rangers, and yet all have failed." Prince Vekar warned him. He put a finger in his face. "Make sure you do not, or you will face my wrath!"

"Don't worry sire." Pacha Chamak assured him confidently. "The Rangers won't know what hit them!"


	15. The Tiger Master

At Jungle Karma Pizza, the Megaforce Rangers were all gathered around a table, feeling more than a little full, and very satisfied. When RJ had offered to make them breakfast, he had really gone all out. The table was piled high with plates, particularly on Jake's side. Despite his deceptively skinny stature, his naturally energetic ways meant he had a more than healthy appetite, and could really put it away when someone offered him a free meal. He rested back in his chair, groaning contentedly as he rubbed his stomach.

"Now that...that was just awesome." Jake sighed with a childish grin on his face. "RJ, you are like...the Michelangelo of cooking."

"Well, I'm never one to turn down a compliment." He answered as he came across with a huge grin on his face. "Anyone want some more juice? How about some coffee?"

"I think we should be good." Troy answered, nodding his head dutifully. Just then, they heard a loud yawn, followed by a crash in the back.

"Son of a...RJ!" They heard someone yell. He just sucked his teeth as a moment later Lily stumbled out in her pyjamas, her hair undone, and limping slightly.

"Lily, I..."

"You haven't put the groceries away?" She yelled at him, limping over.

"Lily, we...kind of have company." RJ told her, gesturing to the booth. Lily turned slowly, seeing the Corsair Rangers sitting there.

"Oh...um...hi...I...um..."

She finally stopped stammering and ran as quickly as dignity would allow out of the restaurant, into the apartment. RJ just sighed.

"I'm guessing you're in the dog house." Jake commented. "Sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it." RJ replied. "I guess I was distracted. It's not like the world's most wanted fugitives turn up on my doorstep every morning."

"I'm really sorry." Gia reiterated. "We really don't want to be any trouble."

Just then, Lily came back down. She hadn't had any time to do her makeup, and had only just roughly brushed back her hair into a rough ponytail and pulled on some jogging pants and a t-shirt. She went to RJ's side and smiled.

"Hi, sorry about that." She greeted them, shooting RJ a side-ways glance. "My husband didn't tell me we had company!"

"Sorry." RJ answered. "It just slipped my mind."

"Husband?" Emma asked. Lily nodded and held up her left hand, showing them the ring.

"We made it official a couple of months ago." She informed them. "It was nothing huge, just some friends and family."

"Yeah, the whole huge, official ceremony thing isn't really my speed." RJ admitted. "Lily, they're here to see Casey. I was just giving them some breakfast while we waited for his shift to start at the zoo."

"Oh, is everyone alright?" Lily asked. "I can make some coffee..."

"Really, we couldn't eat another bite." Gia assured her, patting her stomach. "Your husband's a generous host."

"I do have my uses." RJ said with a smile, before checking his watch. "So, I think Casey should be at the zoo by now, how about I give you a ride?"

"We'd really appreciate that." Troy told him gratefully. "You have no idea how tough the search for keys has been."

"Yeah, we're glad this time we just have to ask some friends for them." Jake agreed as they started gathering their coats. RJ just smiled.

"Alright, then I'll just get my keys." RJ told them, kissing his wife's cheek, before grabbing his keys and heading out the door. The Corsair Rangers just followed him.

"RJ, RJ!" Lily called out as he left. She just groaned as she heard the engine starting. "Great, first I stub my toe, now I have to put away the groceries. You're lucky I love you Wolf Master."

A little while later, the JKP van pulled up outside the gates to the zoo, RJ checking around before patting the side to let the others know the coast was clear. They got out, looking around instinctively themselves, before following him to the gate.

"It's locked." Emma pointed out, rattling the chain wrapped around the gates, secured by a huge padlock. RJ just gestured her aside.

"Au contraire my little phoenix. You just need the right key." He responded. He slammed a hand into it, tearing off the padlock, leaving what was left of it on the ground. He slipped the hasp out of the links and pulled off the chain, opening the door.

"How did you...?"

"What can I say? I have a gift." RJ interrupted Emma with a broad grin. "Come this way."

The Rangers took a little while to find Casey. It seemed like he was the only staff member on shift at this time in the morning, and many of the animals were barely awake. Emma couldn't resist taking a few snapshots with her camera as they looked for the Red Ranger.

"I normally hate zoos, but this place is pretty amazing." She admitted. "I hate seeing animals all caged up, but these enclosures..."

"They're designed to resemble their natural habitat as closely as possible." RJ assured her. "They used to be a lot more like a normal zoo, but they got a huge grant from Wesley Collins a few years back. They bought a lot more land, opened out the enclosures and bought a whole lot of plants to make the animals feel more at home. They quickly found happier animals were a lot more active and the people were a lot happier to see them."

"I guess that's only natural." Gia responded with a nod. "I know I'd hate to be cooped up in a tiny cage all day."

"Even long journeys on the galleon are pretty trying." Noah answered. RJ just held up a hand to stop them.

"There." He told them, pointing to a trolley, carrying a large amount of cleaning and gardening supplies. Over the handle, a jacket with the Order of the Claw symbol displayed proudly on the back could be seen. "I should have known, he's over by the tiger enclosure."

"Wait...you guys walk around with the Order of the Claw symbol on your clothing?" Jake asked. "And...no one figured out...?"

"Trust me, you have no idea how much merchandise has our logo on it after...you know...our tenure." RJ chuckled. "Half the city has some clothing with our emblem on it...about one in thirty people have some kind of Order of the Claw tattoo. It makes hiding in plain sight pretty easy I'll tell you."

As they got to the enclosure, they looked over the edge of the high, smooth wall. The bottom of the enclosure had a rocky surface, next to an artificial creek, lined by trees. The ground was strewn with leaves. They all looked down, and saw Casey standing right there in the enclosure, raking up some litter some of the less considerate zoo patrons had thrown in.

"There he is." Troy announced. "Hey, Casey!"

Casey just looked around, hearing the voice, before looking up and seeing Troy. He smiled as he saw RJ with five familiar faces.

"Hi there!" He called out. "I wondered how long it would be before you paid a visit."

"We just...oh holy SHIT!" Jake started to say as he saw a tiger making its way out of the undergrowth, passing within a couple of feet of Casey. The Jungle Fury Red Ranger didn't even flinch. "Whoa, um...do you want help?"

"Why would I want help?" Casey asked, looking to the tiger with a smile. "Gia here has more right to be here than I do. I'm in her home. If anything she should be annoyed."

"Gia?" The Yellow Corsair asked, arching an eyebrow. Casey just nodded.

"Mr Collins got her from the authorities a while back. She was found among a shipment that was confiscated from some poachers." He informed them. "I suggested the name."

"I'm flattered." Gia replied, still looking rather nervous. "But...um...you don't keep her caged up while you're cleaning?"

"Why would I do that?" Casey asked her.

"Oh, no reason, just so...you know...you don't end up being her breakfast." Jake answered nervously. Just then, their morphers bleeped.

"Great, Prince Vekar always has great timing." Emma muttered. "Um...listen, we need to go, but we'll be right back! We really want to talk to you!"

As they ran off, Casey made his way to the gate, letting himself out, and locking it behind him. He looked to RJ.

"So you let yourself in?" He asked. RJ just nodded.

"I figured it was for the best." He answered. "I'll get another padlock."

"Don't worry, there's another in the equipment shed." Casey assured him. "So...are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"It could be fun to see them in action." RJ agreed. "Just...uh...don't tell Lily. I have a feeling she's already not happy with me."

"The day's not even started and you pissed her off?" Casey asked him as they started running after the Rangers. "How?"

"You lived with her for a year; you know how she is in the mornings." RJ answered innocently. "I'll make it up to her."

"Please, I really don't need the mental images." Casey chuckled.

A few streets away, the Rangers arrived to find some X-borgs on the streets, tearing the place up, looking for something...or more accurately someone. They were accompanied by a rather bizarre looking alien. Pacha Chamak was overseeing their search as he prepared himself for battle. He was the first to see the Rangers arriving.

"Would you be looking for us by any chance?" Troy asked him.

"Rangers! I knew it wouldn't be long!" Pacha Chamak responded. "Our surveillance picked you up in the city. I knew all I had to do was cause a little panic to draw you out."

"Let's power up!" Troy called out, at which the Rangers morphed into their Corsair Mode. Pacha Chamak just stood, watching as his X-borg contingent rushed to take them on, assessing their strength. He always liked a chance to observe his enemies up close before he took them on. While there was no shortage of footage of the Rangers on The Armada Command Ship, it was no substitute for seeing his foes in action up close.

He watched as they used their swords and blasters to make short work of the X-borgs. He just sneered as he saw Jake and Emma running towards him, having taken out the last of the X-borgs.

"Time for the main event!" Emma yelled as they went for him. However, as soon as they got to him, Pacha Chamak moved with lightning reflexes, avoiding their attacks with incredible skill. He leapt over them, landing on a nearby overpass as they fired their blasters, missing him by inches as he went over their heads.

"Is that all you've got?" He taunted them. "Your skills are sorely lacking!"

"You're not the first one to think that!" Troy called back as the team came together. "Let's take this guy down!"

The all fired, but with moves so fast they could hardly be seen, their energy blasts seemed to veer off past him. It was only as they saw the palms of his hands smoking they realised he had actually somehow deflected the incoming blasts with his own hands!

"What?" Jake yelled. "No way!"

"Let's see how you do without your weapons!" He stated. The Rangers first felt a small pull, then a tearing wrench as their weapons started to move in their hands. Before long, the weapons were pulled right out of their hands, and flew into the giant hands on the shoulders of Pacha Chamak's armour. He stood for a moment, watching the Rangers look on in confusion, at which the weapons fell from his armour onto the overpass.

"Now, what will you do without your trusty trinkets?" He asked.

"How did he do that?" Emma asked.

"He must have some kind of magnetic field weapon." Noah explained.

"Go Go Samurai!" They called together, morphing into another Ranger mode. Pacha Chamak just powered up his magnetic hands again, and before they had a chance to use a single attack, they found their Spin Swords flying from their hands.

"Ninja Storm!" They called out, adopting another form. Pacha Chamak just laughed as once again he disarmed them.

"He just keeps taking our weapons!" Gia complained.

"Do we have any weapons that aren't made of metal?" Jake asked.

"There's no time to figure it out!" Troy replied. "Wild Force!"

As they morphed into their Wild Force Legendary Mode, Pacha Chamak smiled, seeing that this time, they weren't going for their weapons.

"Now this is more like it." He stated as he leapt down into the street. He cracked his knuckles, before adopting a stance. "Now, who's first?"

Troy and the other Rangers all rushed him, lashing out with their claws, figuring that if they used weapons that were attached to them that they couldn't be stolen. Pacha Chamak moved like a tidal wave, crashing through the Rangers, both powerful and with frightening speed as he went. It was almost as though they were fighting a hundred at once, as every punch and kick seemed to either be blocked, or find only air before he somehow responded, pounding them harshly as he went. Troy clutched his leg as Pacha Chamak got some space.

"Man, this guy's tough!" Gia commented. "It's like he's all hands!"

"I couldn't land a hit on him!" Jake added. "If we could just use our..."

"Not all of us need to rely on weapons!" Pacha Chamak called out. The hands on his shoulders formed into fists, and flew out on long tentacles, slamming into the Rangers. "Flailing fists!"

"Can't...get...away!" Jake gasped between harsh blows. The five Corsair Rangers hit the ground a little way off, and found themselves de-morphing, their power expended. Pacha Chamak started to make his way towards them.

"Is this it?" He asked. "Is this all I can expect from the might Power Rangers that caused the Prince so much trouble?"

Just as he was making his way towards them, RJ and Casey showed up, standing between him and the Rangers. He just looked at them and scoffed.

"Hey, step back." RJ warned him.

"Please, do you think I'm scared of you?" Pacha Chamak asked him. "A hobo and a janitor?"

"Why does everyone think I'm a hobo?" RJ asked. Casey just sucked his teeth.

"Well...it's not like you exactly dress to impress is it?" He asked. "Maybe you should let Lily do your shopping for you."

Casey just looked back to Pacha Chamak.

"Now, you can walk away and we won't hurt you." He warned him as he and RJ prepared a guard. He just laughed.

"I'd like to see you try!" He answered. RJ and Casey rushed in, ducking and dodging his fists as they went. The Corsair Rangers watched in awe as they went.

"How...how can they do that?" Gia asked. "It's like they know where his punches are coming before they come!"

"They're incredible!" Noah gasped as he saw them. RJ slammed a knee into Pacha Chamak's jaw, before Casey rolled over his back, hitting him with a double claw attack. The two Pai Zhua Masters drew back, energy forming around them, before hitting him with a combined attack from both their animal spirits, sending him flying through a concrete support beam under the overpass. Casey and RJ grabbed the Rangers, helping them up.

"Come on, let's go!" Casey told them.

"What, now?" Noah asked. "But you got him! He's on the ropes!"

"And that was pretty much all we had." RJ assured them. "Come on, part of being a great warrior is knowing when it's time to be proud, and when it's time to be smart and run like hell!"

With that, they all turned and ran. Pacha Chamak pulled himself out of the rubble, to find the street deserted. He smiled in satisfaction, realising that despite the fact these strangers had caught him by surprise, despite the fact he had been left reeling, the Rangers had ended up running away in defeat.

"You're better than I thought." He commented. "Those strangers caught me by surprise, but don't worry, I'll be back to finish you off!"

With that, he activated his teleportation device, heading back to The Armada Command Ship.

As he arrived, he found himself on the bridge, standing before Prince Vekar. The Prince looked somewhat less than amused...at least...he seemed to be, it was difficult to tell under all the unnecessary bandages he was wearing on his face.

"That's it? That's your best?" Prince Vekar asked incredulously. "Nick-nack-paddy-whack or whatever your name is? Is this what you're famous for? Letting your enemies off the hook?"

"Prince Vekar!" Lavira interrupted him, approaching Pacha Chamak. "I've found a way to ramp up his combat powers so that he can crush those Rangers once and for all!"

Back in Ocean Bluff, back at the zoo, RJ and Casey were sitting on a bench as Troy paced like an enraged tiger. He was furious with himself for the fact that they had failed to take out Pacha Chamak. He had beaten them all over the street, making them all look weak and helpless.

"You're being way too hard on yourself." Gia told him.

"No, I'm NOT!" Troy snapped. "We're the last Ranger team on Earth! We're the only hope the Earth has of surviving this invasion!"

"We had no idea he would be that powerful!" Gia told him.

"Yeah, and then he took our weapons!" Jake reminded him. "It's not like we were expecting that!"

"We let go of our weapons." Troy stated. "A Ranger should NEVER let go of his weapons! EVER!"

RJ and Casey just looked to each other as they heard this. As Troy started to pace furiously, Emma went to his side, putting her arm around him. As his girlfriend, she knew him far better than the others. She knew that he didn't just take it as a failure when the team took a beating; he took it as a personal failure. It was like it was his sole responsibility to defend the whole universe.

"Troy, we were all there remember?" Emma said soothingly. "We all took that beating."

"Maybe...maybe we can try a different weapon." Noah suggested. "One made of a different alloy, or not made of metal at all!"

"No!" Troy replied. "Next time, we just won't let go! It's that simple!"

"Well, maybe we still aren't using the right weapons then." Gia suggested, looking to RJ and Casey. "They managed just fine."

"Yeah, they did!" Noah recalled as they headed over. "Master Casey, before the monster came, before we were interrupted, we wanted to ask you for something."

Gia took out her Ranger key and showed it to him.

"We believe you have something like this." She told him. "Only...representing your team."

"You mean these?" Casey asked, pulling out the Jungle Fury Ranger keys. She just nodded.

"Yeah, that's them!" She told him, extending a hand. Casey just looked to RJ, before throwing them over his shoulder, straight into the tiger enclosure. The Rangers looked on in disbelief.

"Wait...what the hell?" Jake gasped.

"Why did you do that?" Gia yelled in response. Casey and RJ just got up.

"Because I don't know if you deserve them. Not after what I've seen and heard today." Casey answered. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have elephant manure to muck out."

"Hey, wait a minute!" Troy yelled. "We're Rangers! We're just like you!"

"Really?" Casey asked him, turning around and smiling. "Well how about you prove it?"

"Prove it?" Noah asked. "How?"

"Let me train you, give me the rest of the afternoon." Casey told them. "If I think you deserve them, I'll go and get the keys back."

"If we don't?" Troy asked.

"Then you can get them yourselves." He answered. "Either way you'll have earned them."

Emma pulled Troy aside.

"We can't hurt the tiger." She told him. "It's innocent; it has nothing to do with this war."

Troy just sighed, before looking to Casey.

"Alright, we'll do it." He answered. "So what do we do?"

Casey just threw him a shovel.

"First, you help me with my chores so I have time to train you." Casey replied. "I wasn't kidding about that elephant poop. It won't clean itself."

As he and RJ left, the Corsair Rangers just looked among each other uneasily.

"Do we have much of a choice?" Jake asked. With that, they all followed Casey as he explained their duties for the rest of the day.


	16. Spirit of a Ranger

Casey and RJ were sitting on folding lawn chairs, with a small table between them, watching as the Corsair Rangers were heading around the enclosures, doing the various chores on Casey's to do list. He had given them a long list of the chores he had to do before the park opened at the end of the school day. Casey picked up a colourful fruit smoothie, taking a long sip though a curly straw.

"Hey Emma." He called out as he saw the Pink Ranger walking past. She just looked up at him from the bucket of feed she was carrying. "Rub it together in your hands for a minute before you sprinkle it out in the peacock enclosure. For some reason they seem to like it warmed slightly that way."

"OK." He chirped cheerfully, before trotting off in the direction of the enclosure. RJ just smiled.

"At least one of them doesn't seem to mind." RJ commented.

"I have a feeling Emma's having the time of her life." Casey replied, taking another sip. "To be honest, I think she'd have done this even if she didn't need me to get the Ranger Keys."

"Of course, she IS getting some of the more pleasant jobs." RJ reminded him. "Somehow I doubt Jake and Troy are going to be as happy once they've finished mucking out those enclosures."

"Yeah, and I think Noah and Gia are really going to love me for making them cut it with the straw for compost." Casey chuckled. "I have to say, I'm kind of into the whole sadistic training thing."

"And I guess the fact you don't have to shovel through all that sh..."

That's just...a happy coincidence." Casey answered with a smile. He caught the way RJ was looking at him. "Hey, you made me give you a neck rub remember? That had NOTHING to do with my training! At least this will give them a warm-up before the real training starts."

"Hey Casey, we've just finished with the elephant...uh...mud." Jake told him as he and Troy arrived.

"Hey, you guys worked hard." Casey complimented him, checking his watch. "I'd have thought it would take you until at least lunch time to do that."

"So are you going to train us now?" Troy asked him.

Casey just looked to RJ, then back to the Rangers.

"I...don't think so." Casey told him, pointing down the path. "The rhino enclosure is just down that way. You don't need to worry; they're usually pretty sluggish at this time of day. Most of them will be napping."

"And...what do you want us to do?" Jake asked him.

"Same thing you did for the rhinos." Casey replied with a little smirk. Troy just threw down his gloves.

"I'm so SICK of this!" He snapped. "You're a Ranger!"

"And so are you." RJ reminded him. "What's your point?"

"You're meant to be helping us!" Troy snapped. "Instead, you've had us spending the day drinking smoothies while we wade knee-deep in rhino shit!"

"Actually its elephant shit." Casey reminded him. "You've still to get the rhino shit, and it won't muck out itself."

"This is ridiculous!" Troy stated. "We came for the Ranger keys, not to do your work for you!"

"Well, you know where they are if you want them." Casey answered, pointing to the tiger enclosure. "It has only been a few hours since Gia woke up, so she should be pretty hungry by now..."

Troy just yelled in frustration, before turning away.

"Troy!" Casey called to him, causing him to turn back. He pointed to the gloves on the ground. "You're probably going to want those."

As he picked up the gloves and stormed off, followed closely by Jake, RJ just started laughing.

"You are totally evil." RJ laughed as he grabbed a banana and started peeling it. Casey just looked to him, picking up his glass.

"I had a good teacher." He responded. RJ picked up his own glass, touching it to Casey's, before they both took a long sip.

"Say, aren't you meant to be at the restaurant?" Casey asked him.

"I think Dom and Fran can cope without me for a day." He answered, pulling out his cell phone and sending a text message to confirm he wouldn't be back for opening. "I'm having way too much fun here."

Meanwhile, on The Armada Command Ship, Pacha Chamak followed Lavira to her laboratory. He looked around at the devices lining the walls.

"So, you said you could upgrade my fighting ability." He commented. "This doesn't look much like a dojo."

"Believe me; what I have in mind will be much better than years of training." She told him. She shoved him against a workbench. "Lie down on that."

"Are...are those restraints?" He asked, gesturing to the work bench.

"Just get on the bench!" She snapped. He reluctantly climbed up onto the bench and lay down. She started to fasten the restraints, holding him firmly to the bench. She could see the look on his face as he started to struggle. "Don't struggle. Trust me; those are for your benefit."

"What...what are you planning to do to me?" He asked her in a panic. She brought over a stand full of tools, many of which looked like a twisted mixture of mechanical tools and surgical implements. Lavira picked up a mask, and held it over his nose and mouth, at which it started to pump out a gas which started to dull his senses.

"You need to be conscious for this I'm afraid, but this should help." She replied, before putting the mask aside, and picking up the first tool. "Don't worry, this shouldn't hurt for long."

Back at the zoo, the Corsair Rangers had finally finished all their chores, and true to his word, Casey was getting ready to train them. He had cleared out an area for them to train in the centre of the zoo, and had changed into his training gear. The Rangers arrived after a much-needed shower, dressed in some spare training gear Casey had brought with him. As they lined up, they all looked at Casey, prepared to begin.

"Alright, you all did well today. I trust you're all warmed up and ready to begin?" He asked.

"Well, it was certainly warm." Gia grumbled.

"You call that a warm-up?" Jake asked. He looked to Troy. "Never let me complain about your training again!"

"Are you quite done?" Casey asked. "Alright, we're going to begin by running a few simple drills. First, I want you to adopt a horse-stance..."

"Drills?" Troy asked him. "Are you serious?"

"Is there a problem?" Casey asked him.

"I have four black belts." Troy told him. "Gia's a black belt; Emma Jake and Noah have been training for almost two years...I think we're a bit beyond this."

"Well since I'm leading training, how about I decide that?" Casey asked him. Troy just stood with his arms folded defiantly.

"If you hadn't thrown the keys in that tiger enclosure..."

"I told you if you didn't like it, you could always go in and get them." Casey reminded him. "But then again, after the way that monster clobbered you this morning, I'm guessing that a little training might not go amiss. Or should I say re-training."

"Re-training?" Jake asked him.

"You know what? I'm sick of this." Troy snapped. "Either get those keys or I will!"

"We could do that. I guess you do have other powers. It's not like Gia...the tiger Gia...could do much about it if you decided to just go in there and get them."

"So if you go, then at least there's no risk of her getting herself hurt." Troy answered.

"TROY!" Emma shrieked. She seemed completely horrified by the idea Troy would even suggest he'd be willing to hurt the tiger. She knew he was probably just bluffing, but that didn't mean it was impossible she would take Troy coming into her enclosure as a threat and attack.

"So are you going to let that happen?" Troy asked. Casey just smiled.

"How about option C?" Casey asked him. Troy just looked confused. Casey picked up a plastic, practice shark sabre, and threw it to Troy.

"How about a little challenge?" Casey asked him. He pointed to some white lines he had drawn on the ground in chalk, marking out a sparring area. "You against me. If I win, you swallow your pride and let me train you. If you win...I go and get the keys."

Troy just nodded.

"Oh, I forgot to mention, there are only three rules." Casey told him. "Rule one, you're only allowed to use the sword. You can use it any way you like, any techniques you want with it, any style...but only the sword. Rule number two, I'll be unarmed."

"What?" Jake asked.

"Are you serious?" Noah asked. Casey just looked to them.

"I'm deadly serious." He replied. "I can use any unarmed technique I want against you, but I can't use any weapons whatsoever. Finally, rule three. Neither of us can set foot outside the ring. Breaking any of these rules ends the contest in disqualification. What do you say?"

Troy stepped up, stepping into the ring with Casey. Both Red Rangers lined up opposite each other, preparing to begin.

"This is intense." Noah whispered to Jake. "I mean, does Casey really think this is a good idea?"

"I'm just glad it's a plastic sword." Emma commented. "This doesn't feel like a good idea."

"Alright, begin!" Casey stated. Troy came for him, swinging the Shark Sabre. He was pretty fast, and he had used swords for a long time, so Casey had to work hard to stay out of its reach, but eventually, he made his move.

Moving in, he caught Troy's wrist, before spinning his back into Troy's body, elbowing him in the face. He gripped the sword handle, twisting it out of his grip. Troy found himself shoved roughly away, staggering backwards, seeing Casey holding the sword now. He just watched as the former Red Ranger threw the sword aside, well beyond the boundary of the ring.

"HEY!" Troy protested. "You said...!"

"I said I'm not allowed to use the sword." Casey said with a smile. "I didn't say anything about not letting you use it."

Troy just looked to Casey as he stood before him, his arms folded.

"So, what are you planning to do?" He asked. Troy turned and started walking, heading for the sword. As he got to it, he heard some sarcastic clapping, and turned to see Casey.

"And...you just stepped out of the ring." Casey reminded him, pointing to the chalk line. Troy looked down, seeing that he was right. He just came over, looking at him.

"That wasn't fair!" Troy complained. "You manipulated the rules!"

"So?" Casey asked. "You just have to hold on right? You just don't let go of your weapon right?"

The other Rangers all looked on, nodding as they realised what he was saying.

"I was never armed to begin with." Casey reminded him. He then furrowed his brows. "You do karate don't you?"

"Yeah." Troy answered.

"I'm guessing you didn't get taught how to use a sword right away." Casey continued.

"No, I got offered the chance to learn after I'd been practicing for two years." Troy told him.

"So...what did you do until then?" Casey asked him.

"I trained without weapons." Troy answered. Casey just patted him on the shoulder, before looking to the rest of the Rangers.

"Hand-to-hand is the basis of all combat. Only a fool trusts his life to a weapon."* Casey declared loudly, imparting his lesson. He turned back to Troy. "What if you're caught in a situation where you don't have a weapon? Do you walk around with a sword everywhere you go? I know I sure as hell don't. What if your weapons are taken from you like that monster did? What then?"

"We have to be ready to fight without weapons if we need to." Troy answered as the penny finally dropped for him. Casey smiled.

"You've just used weapons for so long, you're used to using them, but you already have it in you to fight without them. You just need to re-learn that." Casey told him. "Did you know that the word karate means literally 'empty hand'? The original practitioners focused their training on being able to defend themselves without weapons because they knew their enemies weren't always going to fight fair. They weren't always going to be considerate enough to let them go and find a weapon."

Troy just nodded his head in agreement, before falling back into line.

"Alright, back to basics." Casey told them. "I just want to see what's inside each of you, and what you have. Horse stance front punch. Begin!"

Back on The Armada Command Ship, Damaras and Argus came into Lavira's lab, in search of her and Pacha Chamak. It had been quite a while since she had gone to give him his upgrade, and The Prince was becoming more than a little impatient. They got to the door, and stood outside for a moment.

"Well?" Damaras stated, gesturing to the door.

"What?" Argus replied.

"Do you think I want to go in there?" Damaras asked him. "That place gives me the creeps."

"I am sure it is fine." Argus responded. "You forget, I have been the recipient of her upgrades myself."

"Yes...because that is so reassuring." Damaras replied. After steeling himself for a moment, he opened the door, and went in, making sure Argus was close. They saw Pacha Chamak on the workbench, strapped to it with heavy restraints, while Lavira was on the other side of the room, watching on something. It looked initially like a piece of his armour, but as they got closer, they saw blood, indicating that it had been part of his body at some point. She was working away with her tools, and seemed oblivious to their presence.

"What are you two doing here?" She demanded.

"Prince Vekar is growing impatient." Damaras told her, hazarding a look over to Pacha Chamak. He wished he hadn't. Significant parts of his body were missing, and judging by the moans and mumbles coming from his direction, it appeared he was still conscious. "He...he demands to know when your upgrades will be ready."

"Things like this take time." She told him. "It's not like swinging a sword or reading a tactical report."

"Prince Vekar is keen to press the advantage before the Rangers can prepare for Pacha Chamak's return." Argus told her. She just sighed.

"You can send him now if you like." She said sarcastically. "Though something tells me it will not go particularly well."

"The Prince would like to be consulted when the upgrades are ready." Damaras told her.

"He will know as soon as Pacha Chamak is ready to go." She assured them. "Now go away and don't disturb me any further!"

As they left, Damaras closed the door behind him. He looked to Argus.

"You received some of her upgrades?" He asked.

"I did." Argus answered. "I do not remember the procedure."

Damaras just looked to the door, then back at Argus.

"I think that's for the best." Damaras answered, before they both headed back to the bridge to update the Prince.

Back at the zoo, the Rangers had finished a lot of their basic drills, and were now pairing up for sparring. Casey and RJ had been observing them for some time. They were watching not only for their technique and strengths, but they were using their animal spirits to try and figure out their spirits, to figure out what was the best way for all of them to proceed.

"Fierce and strong." Casey declared, coming to Jake's side. He grabbed his hand, shifting it into a new guarding position, opening out his fist into kind of a point, and bent at the wrist, making it look a little like a snake head. "You have the spirit of the snake."

Jake thought about it for a moment. Something about that just spoke to him. He had always been deceptively strong and lightning fast. His success on the soccer pitch and in his early days as a ranger had been down to a kind of natural athleticism that he'd always seemed to have. He just got ready to begin as Casey then went to Emma. She was a little tougher to read, but after a moment he realised why. The Phoenix, to common wisdom didn't exist, though Casey knew better, having once seen one in Briarwood. Rare and powerful creatures often were harder to place.

"Brave and resilient." He complimented her. "You have the spirit of the phoenix." Emma smiled too, again something about what Casey had said just seemed to fit, like he had taught her something about herself she had always known, but that she just didn't quite understand.

"Master Casey, spirit of the Phoenix?" Noah asked. "Spirit of the snake?"

"We're Pai Zhua Masters." He explained. "We've been trained to see your animal spirits."

"We see not only you, but what you have inside you." RJ said as he went to Gia. He opened out her fists into tiger claws. "Fierce, strong, proud...it looks like we have another tiger."

He then walked over to where Noah was standing, and opened his hands out into fins.

"My dad would love to meet you." He stated. "Cunning, swift, deadly, you're a shark."

Casey then went to Troy and stood before him.

"You remind me a lot of someone else too." Casey told him. "Proud, big heart, tough...and dare I say...more than a little stubborn. You're a dragon through and through."

Casey squared off against him as the others also paired up.

"Alright, remember what we've been teaching you. Trust your instincts, learn to listen to your animal spirit and it will guide you. Begin!"

With that, they all launched into their bouts. RJ stood back to observe them, keeping an eye on the action.

"Emma, listen to your phoenix." RJ told her. "You're resilient, but not indestructible. Jake outweighs you by about fifty pounds..."

"HEY!" Jake protested

"OK, thirty pounds!" RJ conceded.

"Thank you!" Jake shot back.

"The point is, he's much stronger and heavier. If you stand toe-to-toe with him he'll crush you." RJ told her. "You've got wings phoenix, use them!"

He then looked over to where Noah and Gia were sparring.

"Come on Noah, I know tigers like the water, but they are cats! Sharks don't do so well on land!" RJ told him. "Don't fight her fight, let Gia come to you! Make her fight your fight!"

He turned his attention to Casey and Troy, who were giving each other a good run for their money. While Troy was no Pai Zhua master, he'd been doing martial arts long enough to put on a respectable showing against Casey. As he finally managed to hit Casey with a solid punch to the chest, staggering him, he saw some energy starting to shimmer and glow around his hand. As he relaxed his stance, staring to his arms, he realised it was happening all around his body.

The other Rangers all stopped as they all realised the same thing was happening. RJ and Casey just looked to each other and smiled.

"You've done it! You've tapped into your animal spirits!" Casey declared proudly. Each of the Rangers just looked to him.

"I feel...I feel weird." Noah commented. "Like...I'm stronger."

"You're always stronger if you unite with your animal spirit." RJ told him. "Now, I know you don't have a spare few years to train properly, but this is a good start. And it should give you a great foundation for the battles to come."

"Now all that's left is to go and get your Ranger keys." Casey stated. They all just stared into the tiger enclosure.

"Uh...I thought you said..."

"Trust in your animal spirits." Casey told them. Gia took a deep breath, before opening the door to the enclosure and heading inside. She went down into the enclosure as the tiger that was her namesake just started to look up.

"Easy there girl, easy." Gia said in a soothing voice. "You don't need to hurt me, I'm a friend. We have a lot in common. My name's Gia and I'm a tiger too."

The tiger Gia started to come towards her, sniffing as she went.

"We should..."

"Give it a chance." Casey told them. The tiger just circled around, inspecting her thoughtfully for a moment, before finally losing interest and walking away to a collective sigh of relief from the Rangers.

"I can't believe..."

"There are two facts you need to know about tigers." Casey told them. "First of all, they tend not to attack humans."

"Huh?" Emma asked.

"They don't know what to make of us. We confuse them; they tend to stay away from us. A tiger needs to learn to be a man-eater, and even then it'll only do so if it's desperate. Of course once it becomes a man-eater, it has to be put down. Apparently we're kind of addictive to them."

"And the second thing?" Jake asked.

"She was fed while you were changing." Casey told them. "She'll be good for a couple of hours."

"Uh...guys? I think we have a problem here." Gia told them. "I can't see the Ranger keys anywhere!"

"What?" Casey asked. "Use your animal spirit, trust your instincts. It should lead you to..."

"All it's leading me to is...the other Gia." She told him.

"But I threw them in there!" Casey told her. "I threw them right over...oh!"

"What?" Jake asked.

"Um...yeah, we might have a problem." Casey told them, looking a little uncomfortable. "Where I threw the keys, its right under the feeding hopper."

"So?" Emma asked.

"I think maybe there's a reason your Gia's only being led to my Gia by her instincts." Casey said in a slightly strained voice.

"You don't mean...?" Jake's eyes shot open wide. "You don't mean...?"

"Uh...the good news is you'll get them back." Casey answered. "You just might have to wait a while?"

Just then, their morphers bleeped. Troy just sighed.

"It looks like we don't have the time." Troy answered. "We'll deal with this."

As they ran away, Casey and RJ just continued to stare into the enclosure.

"Um...Casey?" RJ asked. "How many exlax do you think a tiger takes?" Casey just buried his face in his hands.

*OK, fun little challenge. Can any of you guess where I ripped off that quote from? No prizes for guessing it, just a fun little challenge.


	17. Way of the Intercepting Fist

**A/N:** Congratulations to debaVsdeba who got the quote. It was from the video game Metal Gear Solid, specifically in the battle between Snake and Gray Fox. I loved the quote, and thought it fit this episode perfectly.

Pacha Chamak had shown up in the centre of Ocean Bluff, and started tearing up the place. Once Lavira had finished with her upgrades, she had sent him into battle at the orders of the Prince. He was growing more and more agitated and impatient. Although Pacha Chamak had been unsuccessful in their first encounter, he had shown a lot of promise. The Rangers came into view, finding him with some Bruisers and some X-borgs, panicking some early afternoon shoppers.

"Alright Pancho...whatever your name is, leave these people alone!" Troy called out as they prepared their weapons. "Leave now and we won't have to tear you apart!"

"It's Pacha Chamak! No point trying to remember it, I'll just have it carved into your tombstones! I don't see your bodyguards, the hobo or the janitor anywhere!"

"You're going to wish it was them when we're through with you!" Troy called out. "Alright guys, let's take care of these guys quickly!"

"Yeah, we're only three streets from the pizza joint." Jake reminded them. The others just looked at him, at which he shrugged. "What? Breakfast was great! I can't be the only one curious to see how their pizza is right?"

The others couldn't be bothered responding, they just rushed into battle, their blasters blazing as they closed the gap to the droid bodyguards. Troy cast a quick glance in the direction of Pacha Chamak, seeing that the plan he had discussed with the Rangers on the way to the battle had paid off. Although RJ and Casey had reminded them that they didn't really NEED weapons, they all knew having them in a massed battle was a huge advantage. Troy had made two leaps of faith in his battle plan. The first was that Pacha Chamak couldn't activate his magnetic pull while there were droids around, since Troy doubted he wanted to be buried under a few hundred pounds worth of his own retinue! The other was confirmed by the way he was standing with his arms folded, just watching the battle progressing before him.

Troy had pegged him as a proud, almost arrogant warrior, who was more interested in individual glory than victory for the sake of the prince. He wasn't fighting while the droids were there, believing that he would be able to take the Rangers by himself. Troy and his friends used this to their advantage, quickly cutting down the odds against them by eliminating the retinue, before assembling before Pacha Chamak.

"Impressive." Pacha Chamak complimented them. "Of course, we all know you could never defeat me without your fancy toys."

"Alright guys, just like we talked about." Troy reminded them. They all nodded. Pacha Chamak activated his magnetic pull, which began at a small tug, before ramping up to a harsh pull that almost yanked them off their feet. The Rangers all braced themselves, gripping as tightly as they could as he ramped up the power.

"It's getting stronger." Gia commented.

"I don't think I can hold on much longer!" Noah told him.

"I feel like he's ripping my fingers off!" Emma told him.

"Just a little longer guys!" Troy told them.

"It's useless Rangers; I can keep this up all day!" Pacha Chamak laughed as he watched them struggling to keep a hold of their weapons. "Lose your weapons or lose your hands! It makes no difference to me!"

"You want our weapons? Then have them!" Troy yelled. "NOW!"

All five of the Rangers immediately leapt up, instantly losing traction with the ground, and flying straight towards Pacha Chamak, their weapons in their hands. As they flew through the air, Pacha Chamak watched them stretch out in mid-flight, preparing for a flying kick. He realised far too late that they were using the force of the attraction to pull them in far quicker than they could accomplish themselves, using his own magnetic force against him!

The five kicks slammed into his chest, sending him flying as the Rangers released their weapons, which then attached to the hands on Pacha Chamak's shoulder armour. The Rangers were dumped rather unceremoniously on the ground, before quickly regaining their feet.

"Alright, it worked!" Jake called out.

"But we still need to take this guy without weapons!" Gia reminded him. "So what now?"

"I say we go legendary!" Troy told her. "Follow my lead! Mighty Morphin', It's Morphin' Time!"

As they all changed into the first Ranger team, a choice Troy had made because he could remember them fighting a number of times unarmed, they rushed Pacha Chamak just as he got to his feet. In their minds, they knew this was unlikely to be all they would need, but for now, all they wanted was to buy some time.

Back at the Zoo, Casey was in the tiger enclosure, following the tiger, Gia around. He was staying back, crouching down as he followed her. He had worked in her enclosure a number of times, so she really didn't mind him being there, or see him as a threat, but from the way she would occasionally turn around and glare at him, it was clear that she was more than a little confused. Normally he would go in to clean up and then leave. Obviously she was wondering exactly why he was following her around like this.

He still couldn't believe his luck. He had thrown the Ranger Keys into the tiger enclosure for safe keeping, relying on the Rangers' natural reluctance to go into the cage with a real live tiger to prevent them just going in and getting them long enough to impart his lesson. Having trained under RJ, he had picked up a few unorthodox methods in his training of students. Unfortunately, when they were left unable to find the keys, and he realised that they had landed close to the feeding hopper, he had come to the sickening realisation that Gia must have accidentally swallowed them when she ate the food that had been dumped into her enclosure.

The first concern, of course, was for her welfare. The keys were small, and since he hadn't noticed any change in her breathing or behaviour, it seemed like they had gone down easily, and hadn't caused her any noticeable harm. He would never have forgiven himself if she had hurt herself or choked on the keys. Now of course came the next problem. Short of surgery, something that was not only risky, but cruel to perform unnecessarily and would likely raise all sorts of questions from the vet, the only way to get them back was to wait until nature took its course."

"Come on, easy girl." Casey said soothingly as he followed her. He let out a long sigh as she just lay down by the pool and started staring down at her reflection. She liked Casey, but clearly she was starting to get a little fed up of the attention. This was her way of telling him to go away and leave her alone. "Come on!"

"How long ago did she eat?" RJ asked him from the safety of the path, beyond the restraining wall. He was holding a bag of chips, and crunching through them as he watched Casey follow Gia, waiting for her to do her business.

"I don't know exactly, the hopper just drops in the food, she eats pretty much when she feels like it." Casey told him. "Maybe a couple of hours?"

"So...it could take a while?" RJ asked. "Is there anything we can do to help along the process?"

"What would you suggest?" Casey asked. "Prunes? Bran muffins? They aren't really in a tiger's diet."

"I was thinking of something a little more pharmaceutical." RJ answered. "There's a chemist down the street."

"Well, funnily enough RJ I don't really know the recommended dosage of laxatives for a tiger." Casey told him, placing his hands on his hips. "So unless you do..."

"Well I guess you're in for a long wait then." RJ told him, crunching his chips.

"Has anyone told you you're no help?" Casey asked him. RJ just shrugged.

"I didn't feed the Ranger Keys to a tiger." RJ told him.

"How come nothing like this ever happened when you were training me?" Casey asked.

"Because I don't have the foresight of a lemming." RJ chuckled. Just then, Casey saw Gia getting up, and heading over to a corner.

"Wait, wait...I think we could be in luck!" Casey told him. He followed her as she went over, and saw her starting to circle around. He smiled as he recognised the signs. "She shoots...she scores!"

He reached into his pocket for some rubber gloves, heading over as Gia started to walk away, just looking at him curiously as he approached her deposit. She seemed to almost shake her head in disbelief as he knelt next to it. She had seen him clean up after her, but he had never been THAT interested in her deposits. Casey quickly rummaged through, and let out a cry of triumph as he found something hard. He swept some of the waste off, seeing his own helmet staring back up at him.

"I got them!" He called out. "I got them!"

"Wonderful." RJ replied as he went to the door to the enclosure. Casey ran up the hill, coming to the door with the keys in his hands.

"Come on, we have to get these to the guys!" Casey told him. RJ just held up his hands.

"Yeah, I think they might appreciate it if you wash them off first." RJ suggested. Casey just looked to the keys, and nodded in agreement.

"There's a sink in the maintenance shed." He told RJ, heading past the Wolf Master. RJ just stood aside, watching him go with a smile as he dialled his cell phone.

"Dom and Fran are definitely going to want to hear about this." He laughed as he held the phone to his ear.

Back at the site of the battle, the Rangers were fighting Pacha Chamak with everything they had. They had never actually sat and thought about it before, but there were actually very few Rangers that had any form of finishing attack that didn't use a weapon. Thinking about it, most of the teams had relied on tools in one manner or another.

"RPM, Get in Gear!" Jake called out, as they turned into their RPM mode, hoping that the burnout attack from their wrist and shin tyres would yield positive results. All of them attacked at once, burning into Pacha Chamak, causing him to scream loudly, before he ended up throwing them back with a spin attack.

"Chi Blast!" Gia yelled, firing off her blast. He dodged it, before looking to her.

"You call that a blast?" He asked her. "Fist Cannon!"

He held the two shoulder fists together in front of him, at which power blasts started to fire out. The Rangers scattered as he sent tarmac and concrete flying with each blast.

"So much for fighting without weapons!" Gia complained.

"It looks like he's received an upgrade." Noah told them. "They must have hooked his armour directly into his chi energy, letting him use it as a living cannon."

"Great, we're getting pounded and all you can do is get impressed by the science of it all?" Jake screamed.

"Guys, focus! We need to keep going!" Troy told them. "Ninja Storm, Ranger Form!"

The team all changed into Ninja Storm mode, running at him and activating a Shadow Battle, making sure they didn't bring out any weapons. It seemed to work about as well as anything else they had done, with Pacha Chamak's instincts seeming to see straight through the illusion. The Rangers all rolled away in pain as he stood over them.

"Does anyone else have an idea?" Emma asked.

"I'm out." Noah conceded.

"We could try the Samurai..."

"Most of their attacks are channelled through their swords." Jake reminded her.

"You see, it's just like I said. Without your little toys, none of you are strong enough to beat me!" He taunted them as he stood, his shoulder fists extending out onto long tentacles and preparing to pound into them. "No one can defeat me! I am the master of..."

Just then, they heard a horn blaring. Pacha Chamak turned just as the JKP van sped into view, accelerating straight into him, punting him down the street. RJ just got out of the van, looking to the grill and sighed.

"So much for my no-claims bonus." He grumbled. Casey meanwhile ran over to the other Rangers, extending a hand.

"It took a while, but Gia finally went potty." He stated, before looking to the Yellow Ranger, who was glaring at him. "Uh...you know...the other Gia."

He opened his hand, showing them the keys. The Rangers all looked a little reluctant, at which Casey rolled his eyes.

"I cleaned them off alright?" He assured them.

"We did spend our whole morning knee deep in poo." Gia reminded them, taking her key. "What's a little more?"

"Another team with no pink." Emma sighed.

"Hey, purple!" Jake said, taking RJ's key. This left Emma with the White Ranger key.

"Remember, just trust your instincts, and channel your animal spirits." Casey told them. "Our suits allowed us to channel all our power into every attack, even our unarmed ones."

"That's perfect!" Troy told him. "Thanks Casey."

"Now, I think I'll just get to a safe distance." Casey told them. "That guy's coming back, and he doesn't look happy."

As Pacha Chamak returned to the street, the Rangers assembled before him. Troy flicked out the Red Jungle Fury Key.

"Alright guys, if this guy wants a fist fight, let's show him what the way of the exploding fist REALLY means!"

"Jungle Beast, Spirit Unleashed!" They called as they morphed into the Jungle Fury team.

"Another new form?" Pacha Chamak asked them. "It doesn't matter how many forms you take, you can't..."

"Cheetah jabs!" Gia yelled, interrupting him as she rushed forward with impossible speed, slamming dozens, possibly hundreds of punches into his face and chest. The Cheetah Spirit channelling through her suit, the legacy of the past Yellow Ranger Lily, infused her with deadly speed for a short burst. Noah and Troy leapt into action next, each of them slamming fists into him wherever they could, while the spirits warned them of his return strike, allowing them to dart in and out of his arms as they flailed wildly.

"Our turn!" Emma called out as she and Jake joined the attack. Jake rocked him with harsh knees and elbows, the Spirit of the Wolf guiding his moves. Emma attacked with a dynamic speed and power that Pacha Chamak just couldn't withstand. Emma and Jake ended up grabbing him, at which the others grabbed their shoulders.

"Claw Booster!" They chorused together, channelling all of the energy they had through them, punting Pacha Chamak high into the air. His shoulder armour shattered as he flew into the sky, at which Emma and Jake broke into a run, and leapt up after him. With a combined attack, they obliterated Pacha Chamak. By the time he landed, what was left of him exploded in a large fireball. They all powered back down into Corsair Mode, letting out a huge cry of triumph.

"Oh man, that was AWESOME!" Jake called out.

"The suits powers...I felt them talk to me." Emma said as she looked to Casey and RJ, who were just coming out of cover. "It was like...it was like they were sharing with my phoenix..."

"If you trust in the animal spirits, they will trust in you." RJ told her. "Our team knows you'll do anything you need to protect the Earth, so we..."

"Wait, you lent us your animal spirits?" Troy asked.

"You don't think those flashy long johns hold all the power do you?" RJ asked him. "And since you can trust in your animal spirits, we can channel ours through you to lend you a little power once in a while."

Just then, they saw a beam coming down from orbit and striking the ground where Pacha Chamak had fallen. RJ and Casey just looked to the others.

"I think that's for you." Casey stated.

"Remember, just trust in your animal spirits, and you'll be able to summon all the help you'll need." RJ told them.

"Alright guys, you heard them." Troy called out, summoning up the Red Galleon. "They lent us their powers, so let's make them proud!"

The other Zords came out, quickly forming up into the Corsair Megazord.

"Now I have the upper hand!" Pacha Chamak called out. "Now my fists will crush you for sure!"

"It looks like your ego's grown with the rest of you." Troy answered. "Your armour didn't come back with the rest of you. You don't have your magnetic abilities anymore."

"I don't need any of those tricks to turn that toy into scrap metal!" Pacha Chamak responded arrogantly. "There's no way a robot can match my speed!"

"He might be right." Noah told them.

"Just remember what Casey said, trust in the spirits." Emma reminded him. "They'll let us know what we need to do."

"Well, I don't know about you, but my animal spirit is telling me we don't need these." Troy answered as the Megazord put away its twin swords and adopted a guard. "You want to prove you're the best fighter? Come ahead!"

As Pacha Chamak attacked, they quickly realised he was right, and that he was indeed faster than the Megazord. Even with the guidance of their animal spirits, they took some shots. Fortunately though, the Zord was resilient enough to take it, and still dish out more than they took. Pacha Chamak took a hard back-fist to the face, and fell away from them. Jake pulled out his Jungle Fury Key.

"Hey guys, check out the keys!" He called out. "It looks like RJ and Casey are giving us another helping hand!"

"Alright, channel all the animal spirits as one!" Troy commanded.

"Animal Spirits, Full Fury!" They all shouted together. The Megazord started to glow with energy, before the ports opened, and the spirits of the Jungle Fury Zords all ran out, stampeding straight through Pacha Chamak. As he started sparking, Troy smiled.

"I don't know about you, but my animal spirit is telling me this is over." He told them. Pacha Chamak fell to the ground before exploding.

"Well, I guess that settles it." Jake answered excitedly, pumping a fist in the air. "Chalk up another one for the good guys."

Up on The Armada Command Ship, Prince Vekar's ice pack fell to the floor with a splat, leaking on the floor as his mouth hung open in disbelief. Watching his latest monster exploding, seeing yet another of his monsters fail, he could only stare at the screen.

"Boss?" Argus asked.

"Don't you 'Boss' me!" He screamed, starting to hit his general. "You sent that...that...idiot to the Earth!"

"But Boss..."

"This was all your idea!" He screamed, continuing to hit him. "And you Lavira! Your upgrades were useless! Less than useless!"

"I can't help it if I had nothing to work with." She responded. "He didn't deserve my upgrades. If you upgrade a toilet you still only have a toilet."

"So, it was still YOU that recommended that weakling!" Prince Vekar screamed, starting to hit Argus again. The general just stood and took it, but looked to Damaras, seeing the strategic advisor saying nothing. It had been HIS idea, but he had let Argus take the credit...or more accurately in this case, the blame. "You tin-plated, copper-brained...OW!"

"Your highness?" Lavira asked.

"I hurt my hands!" He whined, holding his throbbing hands. Pounding on Argus' armoured form without thinking, he had hurt himself. That said, much like his face, which now had to be close to fully healed, but was still bandaged up like his skull was about to fall apart, his reaction to the pain was totally disproportionate. "Ow, ow...I think this big lummox broke my fingers! Someone get me a medic!"

Lavira just sighed and took the Prince by the shoulders, guiding him from the room. Argus just looked to Damaras, who said nothing, before walking away, leaving Argus on the bridge with only the X-borg crew. They were all staring at him.

"Get back to work!" Argus told them. "This war is not over!"


	18. The Pizza Party

After the battle, the Rangers made their way back to JKP at RJ's insistence. He knew all too well from his own Ranger days that after a battle, the only thing a team wanted to do afterwards was relax and unwind. It was as true for his own team as it was for any other he had met, and given the look of delight on Jake's face at the mere mention of pizza, he figured this team would be no different.

Casey and RJ knew enough about the alleys and back streets that they easily led the Corsair Rangers from the scene before the Emergency Services and the media turned up. They had done so often enough themselves back in the day that even the added complication of having five of the most recognisable faces on the planet with them didn't seem to slow them down much.

RJ brought them in through the back and into the apartment over the restaurant, where Lily was doing the books.

"Aw...yeah! Now THIS is an apartment!" Jake called out in approval as he got in, seeing the place full of video games, pinball machines, and even a miniature basketball court.

"It's...quite a man cave." Gia remarked as she got in. "And Lily lives here too?"

"She does indeed." RJ answered, gesturing to where Lily was sitting at the table with the books. He came over, kissing her cheek as he got to her side. "So, how are you now oh love of my life."

"You're not charming your way out of the dog house that easily mister." She warned him. "My toe still hurts...oh...hi guys! I caught your battle on the TV."

They all saw the assortment of televisions mounted around a tatty, green recliner in the corner, and a large screen TV by a couch. The large TV was set onto the news channel to follow the events of the day. The Rangers saw that not only were emergency and media crews now at the scene, but there was a huge crowd of people too, many of whom were wearing t-shirts and carrying banners of support.

"Wow, I guess you weren't kidding about your team being popular here." Troy stated. "Just showing up in this town in your old colours caused a real stir."

"It's a nice boost to the ego, I will admit." RJ said with a smile. "You guys looked pretty good out there in our old suits."

"Well the suits alone weren't what made the difference." Troy conceded, looking to Casey. "We'd never have managed it without your training."

"Everyone can learn something. Even I learned something from all of this." Casey told him.

"You mean throwing valuable Ranger Keys into a tiger cage is a bad idea?" Gia teased him. Casey just sighed and nodded his head. Lily just looked to him.

"You did what?" She asked him.

"He needed to wait a while before he could get them back." Emma informed Lily. "Gia...the tiger Gia...kind of mistook them for a tasty snack."

"Casey!" Lily snapped, smacking him across the chest. RJ just laughed at this. It did bring back a lot of memories of their own Ranger days.

"I'm sorry, I just...It seemed like a good idea at the time!" He protested.

"You've been hanging around my husband too long." She grumbled, shaking her head. "So, I guess you guys are probably hungry?"

"Always!" Jake answered joyfully.

"Well, I'll just go and talk to Dom about sending up some pizza." She replied. "You guys make yourselves comfortable. You've earned it."

"I'll go with you." Gia told her as she went with Lily to place their order.

As They left, Troy looked to Casey once more.

"Look, I just wanted to apologise about earlier." He told him. "I just...this whole thing, being the Red Guy...I guess it just gets to me. At times I guess I can get kind of focused on..."

"Hey, I get it. I was the red guy too at one time remember?" Casey told him. "And I had the added problem of being a long way behind the others in my training."

"I know it's just...I didn't need to be such a jerk about it." Troy told him. "I can't believe I got so caught up in the weapons thing. I should have known I could fight without them. I trained for three years before I was allowed to touch a weapon."

"Hey, like I said, sometimes we get caught up in the way we're used to doing things that we forget what we can do." Casey replied as he reached to a weapons rack, picking up a set of nunchaka. "The thing about people who live by the sword is they have a habit of dying on them. Personally, I like to know that I'm ready for the situation I don't have a weapon to hand."

He then started to swing around the nunchaka in an impressive display, eliciting a round of applause from the Corsair Rangers.

"Of course, I'm also pragmatic." He told them. "If I am able to use a weapon, I know they can be a huge help. I just don't rely on having one."

"I'll bear that in mind." Troy told him.

"I guess we all should." Noah added. "I've been working so hard on my sword training; I guess I never thought about what would happen if I didn't have it."

"Weapons can break, weapons can be taken away and weapons can malfunction." RJ answered sagely. "That is why personally, I never really used one in the Wolf Style."

"Wait...isn't your Wolf Morpher basically a cannon?" Jake asked him.

"It focuses my Wolf Spirit." RJ told him.

"Into a blast." Jake reminded him. "Basically making it a cannon."

"I guess you could say that." RJ said.

"So you do use a weapon." Emma teased him. "You use a gun."

"Who wants some music?" RJ asked as he went to the jukebox to select some tunes, and end the conversation which seemed to have taken an embarrassing turn. Lily and Gia came back into the room, this time accompanied by Tensou.

"Tensou?" Troy asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, Gia and I kind of got talking while we were placing your order." Lily told them. "And she told me all about your little problem getting the clues from Tensou."

"Yeah, we still feel pretty awful about it." Noah conceded. "None of us want to hit him..."

"Wait...you hit your assistant?" Casey asked.

"It's the only way we can kick-start his search programme." Troy protested. "He only activates it when we hit him over the head..."

"And Fran thought she had it bad." Casey interrupted him with a smile. "Sorry to hear that little guy."

"Well, Gia also told me about that little deal you have going with Tensou to compensate him." Lily answered. She went out the room, coming back a second later with the Mr Brainfreeze outfit. Casey just laughed.

"What is THAT?" He asked.

"It's...a long story." Jake told him. "Whoever hits him has to wear that outfit for an hour."

"Whoa, that is funky." RJ stated, recoiling as he got close to the suit. "I guess you can't exactly stick it in the washing machine."

"You know after spending the entire morning shovelling a couple of tons of animal poo I don't think we're going to mind wearing that this time." Troy chuckled.

"Oh, none of you are wearing it." Lily told them, looking to Casey. The Red Jungle Fury Ranger's smile suddenly slipped.

"What?" He asked.

"You DID lose the Ranger keys." She reminded him.

"I got them back!" Casey reminded her. "I had to dig through Gia's..."

"You just rectified your own mistake." Lily told him. She gestured to Tensou. "And after making them do all your work at the zoo today, I think it's only fair that you take their turn this time around."

The whole room started laughing as Casey realised that Lily wasn't joking. He tried to protest, but he knew that it was futile. Once Lily got an idea in her head, there really was no talking her out of it.

"Um...alright...sorry about this little guy." Casey said as he brought out his nunchaka, taking up position behind Tensou.

"Just get it over with." Tensou responded. Casey took a deep breath, before swinging his nunchaka, smacking Tensou squarely over the head. The little mechanical owl staggered for a moment, before standing bolt upright.

"Alright, quick, record the message!" Troy stated. Gia quickly got a recorder out as Tensou began.

"Your search has been long, and the road ahead stretches longer,  
The trials ahead are difficult and as a team you must be stronger,  
Five have been enough for now, but your enemies show no sign of resigning,  
From the clouds of the dark times, Six will come from the Silver Lining."

As he shook his head, he looked to the Rangers.

"That...THAT WAS IT?" Jake protested. "That told us nothing!"

"Yeah, there was no mention of keys or a city or a Ranger...nothing!" Noah agreed. Emma just smiled.

"Guys, that poem wasn't about Ranger Keys...but it is great news!" Emma told them.

"What are you talking about?" Noah asked.

"Don't you guys remember when Jordan took us to that cave? When we got these new powers?" She asked them. "Have none of you remembered that there are six chairs in the Red Galleon?"

"The other outfit..." Gia said as she caught on to where Emma was going with her train of thought. "Guys, Six will come from the Silver Lining! We're finally getting a Sixth Ranger!"

"This is amazing!" Jake whooped in delight. "Guys, don't you get what this means?"

"Jordan created the Silver Ranger powers for himself! He only stayed in the Library to complete his studies because Gosei told him to!" Noah rushed out, smiling brightly. "Guys...Jordan's coming home!"

"Well that does sound like something to celebrate!" RJ answered excitedly, grabbing the Mr Brainfreeze costume and handing it to Casey. "Now, I believe someone has a promise to fulfil..."

"Actually, you both do." Lily told him. RJ just looked puzzled. "Don't think I don't remember how you embarrassed me this morning. And you have to admit, Casey takes after you when it comes to training. I blame you just as much as him for that Ranger Key thing."

"But...there's only one costume." RJ reminded her. Lily just arched an eyebrow. RJ gulped. "Oh no...anything but that..."

"Go!" Lily told them. "Both of you!"

As they both left the room. Lily kept an eye out at the door for them while the others made themselves comfortable, and started to talk among themselves about the fact that soon they would get another Ranger. While they had fought with only five team members before, they had always missed having another set of hands. For all the teething problems he had getting used to the Robo Knight armour, Jordan had proven himself to be a powerful and dependable ally. Lily finally caught their attention with a loud whistle.

"Alright guys, here it is, a gift from us to you!" Lily announced. Just then, Casey came in, wearing the Mr Brainfreeze outfit, looking somewhat less than thrilled. Emma immediately got out her camera and started taking some shots as the others laughed.

"And, for his part in all this, can I present my loving husband, otherwise known as Pepperona!" She declared. RJ walked into the room, or rather, he waddled in, struggling to get through the narrow doorway. He was wearing a giant foam-rubber suit, that made him look like a giant slice of pizza. The Corsair Rangers immediately doubled over in laughter.

"This is going to be a long hour." Casey grumbled.

"Well, we do kind of deserve it." RJ answered as he posed for some of Emma's shots.

The laughter finally stopped as Dom arrived, carrying a large stack of pizza boxes. He greeted the others with a huge smile.

"So, who ordered a pizza party?" He asked. The Rangers all whooped in delight as they started to open boxes, starting the party to celebrate the impending return of an old friend.

Fin.

**A/N: **Just warning all of you that I've got a lot on the next couple of days, but it works out, as we all know what's coming, and it'll give me time to catch what happens this Saturday. The next story will probably start somewhere early next week, in the meantime, I hope you all enjoyed this story, and thanks especially to all my regular reviewers.


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